BesuchvsbesuchteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Besuch is a noun, besuchte is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Besuch” is a noun and “besuchte” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,101
“Besuch” frequency rank
#5,346
“besuchte” frequency rank
6447
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Besuch besuchte
Definition vorübergehendes Aufsuchen des Aufenthaltsorts einer Person, vorübergehendes Aufsuchen eines Gebäudes oder einer Institution auf eigene Initiative Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs besucht

Where the eye mixes Besuch and besuchte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Besuch
8 ch
besuchte

Visual trap between Besuch and besuchte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Besuch is [bəˈzuːx] while besuchte is [bəˈzuːxtə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Besuch” sits inside “besuchte”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6447, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Besuch is recorded at frequency rank #1,101, classified as anoun, pronounced [bəˈzuːx]. besuchte is at rank #5,346, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈzuːxtə].

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 6447, this pair ranks #1,991,614 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Besuch vs besuchte

Shared letters: bcehsu. Private to "Besuch": -. Private to "besuchte": t.

"Besuch" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "besuchte" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Besuchbbesuch · bescuh · bessuch · besucch · besuchh · besuhc · beusch · bseuch
  • besuchtebbesuchte · bescuhte · bessuchte · besucchte · besuchet · besuchhte · besuchtte · besucthe

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Besuch" and "besuchte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Besuch" is a noun and "besuchte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Besuch" or "besuchte"?
"Besuch" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,101 in our German list, against #5,346 for "besuchte". 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 "Besuch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "besuchte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,991,614 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Besuch" and "besuchte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bedachte vs besuchte". 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 #1,991,614 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