besorgvsbesorgenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#35,103
“besorg” frequency rank
#6,045
“besorgen” frequency rank
41148
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature besorg besorgen
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs besorgen etwas beschaffen

Where the eye mixes besorg and besorgen

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

6 ch
besorg
8 ch
besorgen

Why the eye confuses besorg with besorgen

A purely visual mix-up. besorg ([bəˈzɔʁk]) and besorgen ([bəˈzɔʁɡn̩]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “besorg” sits inside “besorgen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41148, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

besorg is recorded at frequency rank #35,103, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈzɔʁk]. besorgen is at rank #6,045, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈzɔʁɡn̩].

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 41148, this pair ranks #1,487,925 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of besorg vs besorgen

Shared letters: begors. Private to "besorg": -. Private to "besorgen": n.

"besorg" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "besorgen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • besorg ← bbesorg · beosrg · besogr · besorgg · besorrg · besrog · bessorg · bseorg
  • besorgen ← bbesorgen · beosrgen · besogren · besoregn · besorgenn · besorggen · besorgne · besorrgen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "besorg" and "besorgen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈzɔʁk] versus [bəˈzɔʁɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "besorg" vs "besorgen" - which ranks higher?
"besorgen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,045 in our German list, against #35,103 for "besorg". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "besorg" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "besorgen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,487,925 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "besorg" and "besorgen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "besorg vs besorge". 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 #1,487,925 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