BesetzungenvsBesitzungenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#36,831
“Besetzungen” frequency rank
#21,906
“Besitzungen” frequency rank
58737
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Besetzungen Besitzungen
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Besetzung Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Besitzung

Where the eye mixes Besetzungen and Besitzungen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. Besetzungen and Besitzungen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

11 ch
Besetzungen
11 ch
Besitzungen

Why the eye confuses Besetzungen with Besitzungen

A purely visual mix-up. Besetzungen ([bəˈzɛt͡sʊŋən]) and Besitzungen ([bəˈzɪt͡sʊŋən]) 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 a single letter - e in “Besetzungen” becomes i in “Besitzungen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58737, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Besetzungen is recorded at frequency rank #36,831, classified as anoun, pronounced [bəˈzɛt͡sʊŋən]. Besitzungen is at rank #21,906, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bəˈzɪt͡sʊŋən].

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 58737, this pair ranks #851,213 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Besetzungen vs Besitzungen

Shared letters: begnstuz. Private to "Besetzungen": -. Private to "Besitzungen": i.

"Besetzungen" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCVC  ·  "Besitzungen" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Besetzungen ← bbesetzungen · beestzungen · besettzungen · besetuzngen · besetznugen · besetzugnen · besetzunegn · besetzungenn
  • Besitzungen ← bbesitzungen · beistzungen · besittzungen · besituzngen · besitznugen · besitzugnen · besitzunegn · besitzungenn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Besetzungen" for "Besitzungen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈzɛt͡sʊŋən] versus [bəˈzɪt͡sʊŋən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Besetzungen" vs "Besitzungen" - which ranks higher?
"Besitzungen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,906 in our German list, against #36,831 for "Besetzungen". 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 "Besetzungen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Besitzungen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #851,213 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Besetzungen" and "Besitzungen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Besatzungen vs Besetzungen". 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 #851,213 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