BesitzesvsbesitztWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Besitzes is a noun, besitzt is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Besitzes” is a noun and “besitzt” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,470
“Besitzes” frequency rank
#1,840
“besitzt” frequency rank
27310
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Besitzes besitzt
Definition Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Besitz 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs besitzen

Where the eye mixes Besitzes and besitzt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Besitzes runs 8 letters (CVCVCCVC) against besitzt's 7 (CVCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
Besitzes
7 ch
besitzt

Why the eye confuses Besitzes with besitzt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Besitzes is [bəˈzɪt͡səs] while besitzt is [bəˈzɪt͡st]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27310, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Besitzes is recorded at frequency rank #25,470, classified as anoun, pronounced [bəˈzɪt͡səs]. besitzt is at rank #1,840, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈzɪt͡st].

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 27310, this pair ranks #1,803,853 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Besitzes vs besitzt

Shared letters: beistz. Private to "Besitzes": -. Private to "besitzt": -.

"Besitzes" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "besitzt" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Besitzes ← bbesitzes · beistzes · besitezs · besittzes · besitzess · besitzse · besitzzes · besiztes
  • besitzt ← bbesitzt · beistzt · besittz · besittzt · besitztt · besitzzt · besiztt · bessitzt

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Besitzes" and "besitzt" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Besitzes" is a noun and "besitzt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Besitzes" or "besitzt"?
"besitzt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,840 in our German list, against #25,470 for "Besitzes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Besitzes" and "besitzt" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Besitzes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "besitzt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,803,853 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Besitzes" and "besitzt" 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 #1,803,853 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