BeschäftigtevsbeschäftigtenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Beschäftigte is a noun, beschäftigten is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Beschäftigte” is a noun and “beschäftigten” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,065
“Beschäftigte” frequency rank
#5,066
“beschäftigten” frequency rank
10131
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Beschäftigte beschäftigten
Definition eine weibliche Person, die einer nichtselbstständigen Tätigkeit nachgeht Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs beschäftigt

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Beschäftigte and beschäftigten apart are highlighted. They share 12 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

12 ch
Beschäftigte
13 ch
beschäftigten

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Beschäftigte is [bəˈʃɛftɪçtə] while beschäftigten is [bəˈʃɛftɪçtn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Beschäftigte” sits inside “beschäftigten”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10131, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Beschäftigte is recorded at frequency rank #5,065, classified as anoun, pronounced [bəˈʃɛftɪçtə]. beschäftigten is at rank #5,066, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈʃɛftɪçtn̩].

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 10131, this pair ranks #1,976,632 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Beschäftigte vs beschäftigten

Shared letters: bcefghistä. Private to "Beschäftigte": -. Private to "beschäftigten": n.

"Beschäftigte" · 12 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVCCV  ·  "beschäftigten" · 13 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVCCVC

Frequency comparison

Beschäftigte#5,065
beschäftigten#5,066

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Beschäftigte" and "beschäftigten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Beschäftigte" is a noun and "beschäftigten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Beschäftigte" or "beschäftigten"?
"Beschäftigte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,065 in our German list, against #5,066 for "beschäftigten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Beschäftigte vs beschäftigten

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Beschäftigte”; for an adjective, it's “beschäftigten”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Beschäftigte” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list