bestreitenvsbestreitetWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#8,521
“bestreiten” frequency rank
#13,321
“bestreitet” frequency rank
21842
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bestreiten bestreitet
Definition entschieden erklären, dass etwas nicht zutreffe; etwas nachdrücklich in Abrede stellen 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs bestreiten

Where the eye mixes bestreiten and bestreitet

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. bestreiten and bestreitet follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

10 ch
bestreiten
10 ch
bestreitet

Why the eye confuses bestreiten with bestreitet

A purely visual mix-up. bestreiten ([bəˈʃtʁaɪ̯tn̩]) and bestreitet ([bəˈʃtʁaɪ̯tət]) 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 a single letter - n in “bestreiten” becomes t in “bestreitet”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21842, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bestreiten is recorded at frequency rank #8,521, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈʃtʁaɪ̯tn̩]. bestreitet is at rank #13,321, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈʃtʁaɪ̯tət].

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 21842, this pair ranks #1,881,495 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bestreiten vs bestreitet

Shared letters: beirst. Private to "bestreiten": n. Private to "bestreitet": -.

"bestreiten" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVVCVC  ·  "bestreitet" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bestreitenbbestreiten · besrteiten · besstreiten · besteriten · bestreietn · bestreitenn · bestreitne · bestreitten
  • bestreitetbbestreitet · besrteitet · besstreitet · besteritet · bestreiett · bestreitett · bestreitte · bestreittet

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bestreiten" and "bestreitet" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈʃtʁaɪ̯tn̩] versus [bəˈʃtʁaɪ̯tət]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bestreiten" or "bestreitet"?
"bestreiten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,521 in our German list, against #13,321 for "bestreitet". 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 "bestreiten" and "bestreitet" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bestreiten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bestreitet" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,881,495 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bestreiten" and "bestreitet" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bestreitet vs Bestzeiten". 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 #1,881,495 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