beschwervsbeschwerteConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#39,837
“beschwer” frequency rank
#29,502
“beschwerte” frequency rank
69339
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature beschwer beschwerte
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs beschweren Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs beschwert

Where the eye mixes beschwer and beschwerte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. beschwer runs 8 letters (CVCCCCVC) against beschwerte's 10 (CVCCCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
beschwer
10 ch
beschwerte

Why the eye confuses beschwer with beschwerte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: beschwer is [bəˈʃveːɐ̯] while beschwerte is [bəˈʃveːɐ̯tə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “beschwer” sits inside “beschwerte”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69339, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

beschwer is recorded at frequency rank #39,837, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈʃveːɐ̯]. beschwerte is at rank #29,502, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈʃveːɐ̯tə].

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 69339, this pair ranks #479,615 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of beschwer vs beschwerte

Shared letters: bcehrsw. Private to "beschwer": -. Private to "beschwerte": t.

"beschwer" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCCVC  ·  "beschwerte" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • beschwerbbeschwer · becshwer · bescchwer · beschewr · beschhwer · beschwerr · beschwre · beschwwer
  • beschwertebbeschwerte · becshwerte · bescchwerte · beschewrte · beschhwerte · beschweret · beschwerrte · beschwertte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "beschwer" for "beschwerte" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "beschwer" is a verb and "beschwerte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "beschwer" or "beschwerte"?
"beschwerte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,502 in our German list, against #39,837 for "beschwer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "beschwer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "beschwerte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #479,615 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "beschwer" and "beschwerte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "beschwer vs beschwere". 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 #479,615 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