besagenvsbesagtConfusable pair

Which to use

“besagen” and “besagt” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#29,960
“besagen” frequency rank
#8,686
“besagt” frequency rank
38646
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature besagen besagt
Definition bedeuten, zum Ausdruck bringen, beinhalten 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs besagen

Where the eye mixes besagen and besagt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. besagen runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against besagt's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
besagen
6 ch
besagt

Look-alike desk: besagen vs besagt

A purely visual mix-up. besagen ([bəˈzaːɡn̩]) and besagt ([bəˈzaːkt]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38646, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

besagen is recorded at frequency rank #29,960, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈzaːɡn̩]. besagt is at rank #8,686, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈzaːkt].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 38646, this pair ranks #1,558,416 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of besagen vs besagt

Shared letters: abegs. Private to "besagen": n. Private to "besagt": t.

"besagen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "besagt" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • besagen ← bbesagen · beasgen · besaegn · besagenn · besaggen · besagne · besgaen · bessagen
  • besagt ← bbesagt · beasgt · besaggt · besagtt · besatg · besgat · bessagt · bseagt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "besagen" and "besagt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈzaːɡn̩] versus [bəˈzaːkt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "besagen" or "besagt"?
"besagt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,686 in our German list, against #29,960 for "besagen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "besagen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "besagt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,558,416 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "besagen" and "besagt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "besagen vs besagtem". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,558,416 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list