Which to use
“besitzen” is a verb and “Besitzes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,428
- “besitzen” frequency rank
- #25,470
- “Besitzes” frequency rank
- 27898
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | besitzen | Besitzes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | etwas als Besitz oder Eigentum haben, über das man verfügen kann | Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Besitz |
Where the eye mixes besitzen and Besitzes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. besitzen and Besitzes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between besitzen and Besitzes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: besitzen is [bəˈzɪt͡sn̩] while Besitzes is [bəˈzɪt͡səs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “besitzen” becomes s in “Besitzes”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27898, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
besitzen is recorded at frequency rank #2,428, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈzɪt͡sn̩]. Besitzes is at rank #25,470, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bəˈzɪt͡səs].
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 27898, this pair ranks #1,793,975 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of besitzen vs Besitzes
Shared letters: beistz. Private to "besitzen": n. Private to "Besitzes": -.
"besitzen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "Besitzes" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "besitzen" and "Besitzes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "besitzen" vs "Besitzes" - which ranks higher?
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 "besitzen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Besitzes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,793,975 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "besitzen" and "Besitzes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "besetztes vs Besitzes". 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 #1,793,975 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.