besorgtvsbesorgteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#4,330
“besorgt” frequency rank
#12,036
“besorgte” frequency rank
16366
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature besorgt besorgte
Definition um Hilfe und Unterstützung bemüht, voller Sorge Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs besorgt

Where the eye mixes besorgt and besorgte

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

7 ch
besorgt
8 ch
besorgte

Visual trap between besorgt and besorgte

A purely visual mix-up. besorgt ([bəˈzɔʁkt]) and besorgte ([bəˈzɔʁktə]) 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) - “besorgt” sits inside “besorgte”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16366, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

besorgt is recorded at frequency rank #4,330, classified as anadj, pronounced [bəˈzɔʁkt]. besorgte is at rank #12,036, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈzɔʁktə].

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 16366, this pair ranks #1,936,446 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of besorgt vs besorgte

Shared letters: begorst. Private to "besorgt": -. Private to "besorgte": -.

"besorgt" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC  ·  "besorgte" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • besorgt ← bbesorgt · beosrgt · besogrt · besorggt · besorgtt · besorrgt · besortg · besrogt
  • besorgte ← bbesorgte · beosrgte · besogrte · besorget · besorggte · besorgtte · besorrgte · besortge

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "besorgt" for "besorgte" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈzɔʁkt] versus [bəˈzɔʁktə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "besorgt" or "besorgte" show up more?
"besorgt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,330 in our German list, against #12,036 for "besorgte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "besorgt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "besorgte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,936,446 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "besorgt" and "besorgte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "besorgte vs besorgter". 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 #1,936,446 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