besonderevsbesonderenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,316
“besondere” frequency rank
#1,760
“besonderen” frequency rank
3076
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature besondere besonderen
Definition vom Gewohnten, Normalen abweichend Genitiv Singular Maskulinum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs besondere

Where the eye mixes besondere and besonderen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. besondere runs 9 letters (CVCVCCVCV) against besonderen's 10 (CVCVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
besondere
10 ch
besonderen

Visual trap between besondere and besonderen

A purely visual mix-up. besondere ([bəˈzɔndəʁə]) and besonderen ([bəˈzɔndəʁən]) 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) - “besondere” sits inside “besonderen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3076, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

besondere is recorded at frequency rank #1,316, classified as anadj, pronounced [bəˈzɔndəʁə]. besonderen is at rank #1,760, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈzɔndəʁən].

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 3076, this pair ranks #2,000,994 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of besondere vs besonderen

Shared letters: bdenors. Private to "besondere": -. Private to "besonderen": -.

"besondere" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCV  ·  "besonderen" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • besonderebbesondere · beosndere · besnodere · besodnere · besonddere · besondeer · besonderre · besondree
  • besonderenbbesonderen · beosnderen · besnoderen · besodneren · besondderen · besondeern · besonderenn · besonderne

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "besondere" and "besonderen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈzɔndəʁə] versus [bəˈzɔndəʁən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "besondere" vs "besonderen" - which ranks higher?
"besondere" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,316 in our German list, against #1,760 for "besonderen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "besondere" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "besonderen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,000,994 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "besondere" and "besonderen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "besondere vs bewundere". 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 #2,000,994 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