BesatzungvsBesatzungenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#8,179
“Besatzung” frequency rank
#43,761
“Besatzungen” frequency rank
51940
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Besatzung Besatzungen
Definition die Gesamtheit aller Seeleute auf einem Boot, Schiff, Luftschiff, Raumschiff oder Flugboot bzw. diejenigen Angestellten einer Fluggesellschaft, die sich im fliegenden Flugzeug befinden Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Besatzung

Where the eye mixes Besatzung and Besatzungen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. Besatzung runs 9 letters (CVCVCCVCC) against Besatzungen's 11 (CVCVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
Besatzung
11 ch
Besatzungen

Visual trap between Besatzung and Besatzungen

A purely visual mix-up. Besatzung ([bəˈzat͡sʊŋ]) and Besatzungen ([bəˈzat͡sʊŋən]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “Besatzung” sits inside “Besatzungen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51940, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Besatzung is recorded at frequency rank #8,179, classified as anoun, pronounced [bəˈzat͡sʊŋ]. Besatzungen is at rank #43,761, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bəˈzat͡sʊŋən].

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 51940, this pair ranks #1,116,139 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Besatzung vs Besatzungen

Shared letters: abegnstuz. Private to "Besatzung": -. Private to "Besatzungen": -.

"Besatzung" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC  ·  "Besatzungen" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Besatzung ← bbesatzung · beastzung · besattzung · besatuzng · besatznug · besatzugn · besatzungg · besatzunng
  • Besatzungen ← bbesatzungen · beastzungen · besattzungen · besatuzngen · besatznugen · besatzugnen · besatzunegn · besatzungenn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Besatzung" for "Besatzungen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈzat͡sʊŋ] versus [bəˈzat͡sʊŋən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Besatzung" vs "Besatzungen" - which ranks higher?
"Besatzung" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,179 in our German list, against #43,761 for "Besatzungen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Besatzung" and "Besatzungen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Besatzung" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Besatzungen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,116,139 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Besatzung" and "Besatzungen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Besatzungen vs Bestattungen". 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 #1,116,139 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