besiegtvsbesiegtenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,770
“besiegt” frequency rank
#24,266
“besiegten” frequency rank
31036
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature besiegt besiegten
Definition sportlich beziehungsweise militärisch bezwungen, eine Niederlage einsteckend Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs besiegt

Where the eye mixes besiegt and besiegten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. besiegt runs 7 letters (CVCVVCC) against besiegten's 9 (CVCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
besiegt
9 ch
besiegten

Look-alike desk: besiegt vs besiegten

A purely visual mix-up. besiegt ([bəˈziːkt]) and besiegten ([bəˈziːktn̩]) 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) - “besiegt” sits inside “besiegten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31036, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

besiegt is recorded at frequency rank #6,770, classified as anadj, pronounced [bəˈziːkt]. besiegten is at rank #24,266, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈziːktn̩].

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 31036, this pair ranks #1,736,093 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of besiegt vs besiegten

Shared letters: begist. Private to "besiegt": -. Private to "besiegten": n.

"besiegt" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC  ·  "besiegten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • besiegtbbesiegt · beisegt · beseigt · besieggt · besiegtt · besietg · besiget · bessiegt
  • besiegtenbbesiegten · beisegten · beseigten · besiegetn · besieggten · besiegtenn · besiegtne · besiegtten

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "besiegt" for "besiegten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈziːkt] versus [bəˈziːktn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "besiegt" or "besiegten"?
"besiegt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,770 in our German list, against #24,266 for "besiegten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "besiegt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "besiegten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,736,093 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "besiegt" and "besiegten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bedienten vs besiegten". 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 #1,736,093 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