besiegtevsbesiegtenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#16,097
“besiegte” frequency rank
#24,266
“besiegten” frequency rank
40363
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature besiegte besiegten
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs besiegt Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs besiegt

Where the eye mixes besiegte and besiegten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. besiegte runs 8 letters (CVCVVCCV) against besiegten's 9 (CVCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
besiegte
9 ch
besiegten

Look-alike desk: besiegte vs besiegten

A purely visual mix-up. besiegte ([bəˈziːktə]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “besiegte” sits inside “besiegten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40363, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

besiegte is recorded at frequency rank #16,097, classified as anadj, pronounced [bəˈziːktə]. 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 40363, this pair ranks #1,510,659 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of besiegte vs besiegten

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

"besiegte" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCCV  ·  "besiegten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • besiegtebbesiegte · beisegte · beseigte · besieget · besieggte · besiegtte · besietge · besigete
  • besiegtenbbesiegten · beisegten · beseigten · besiegetn · besieggten · besiegtenn · besiegtne · besiegtten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "besiegte" and "besiegten" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈziːktə] versus [bəˈziːktn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "besiegte" or "besiegten" show up more?
"besiegte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,097 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.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "besiegte" 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 #1,510,659 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "besiegte" 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 #1,510,659 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