Which to use
“besitze” and “besitzen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,991
- “besitze” frequency rank
- #2,428
- “besitzen” frequency rank
- 11419
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | besitze | besitzen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs besitzen | etwas als Besitz oder Eigentum haben, über das man verfügen kann |
Where the eye mixes besitze and besitzen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. besitze runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against besitzen's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: besitze vs besitzen
A purely visual mix-up. besitze ([bəˈzɪt͡sə]) and besitzen ([bəˈzɪt͡sn̩]) 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) - “besitze” sits inside “besitzen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11419, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
besitze is recorded at frequency rank #8,991, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈzɪt͡sə]. besitzen is at rank #2,428, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈzɪt͡sn̩].
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 11419, this pair ranks #1,969,963 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of besitze vs besitzen
Shared letters: beistz. Private to "besitze": -. Private to "besitzen": n.
"besitze" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "besitzen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "besitze" and "besitzen" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "besitze" or "besitzen" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "besitze" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "besitzen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,969,963 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "besitze" and "besitzen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "besitzen vs Bestien". 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 #1,969,963 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.