besagtvsbesagterConfusable pair

Quick tell: besagt is a verb, besagter is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“besagt” is a verb and “besagter” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,686
“besagt” frequency rank
#33,471
“besagter” frequency rank
42157
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature besagt besagter
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs besagen Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs besagt

Where the eye mixes besagt and besagter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. besagt runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against besagter's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
besagt
8 ch
besagter

Visual trap between besagt and besagter

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: besagt is [bəˈzaːkt] while besagter is [bəˈzaːktɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “besagt” sits inside “besagter”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42157, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

besagt is recorded at frequency rank #8,686, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈzaːkt]. besagter is at rank #33,471, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈzaːktɐ].

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 42157, this pair ranks #1,457,885 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of besagt vs besagter

Shared letters: abegst. Private to "besagt": -. Private to "besagter": r.

"besagt" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "besagter" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • besagtbbesagt · beasgt · besaggt · besagtt · besatg · besgat · bessagt · bseagt
  • besagterbbesagter · beasgter · besagetr · besaggter · besagterr · besagtre · besagtter · besatger

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "besagt" and "besagter" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "besagt" is a verb and "besagter" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "besagt" or "besagter"?
"besagt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,686 in our German list, against #33,471 for "besagter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "besagt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "besagter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,457,885 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "besagt" and "besagter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "besagtem vs besagter". 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 #1,457,885 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