BesuchernvsbesuchtenTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#7,293
“Besuchern” frequency rank
#9,159
“besuchten” frequency rank
16452
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Besuchern besuchten
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Besucher Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs besucht

Where the eye mixes Besuchern and besuchten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. Besuchern (CVCVCCVCC) and besuchten (CVCVCCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

9 ch
Besuchern
9 ch
besuchten

Look-alike desk: Besuchern vs besuchten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Besuchern is [bəˈzuːxɐn] while besuchten is [bəˈzuːxtn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16452, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Besuchern is recorded at frequency rank #7,293, classified as anoun, pronounced [bəˈzuːxɐn]. besuchten is at rank #9,159, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈzuːxtn̩].

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 16452, this pair ranks #1,935,740 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Besuchern vs besuchten

Shared letters: bcehnsu. Private to "Besuchern": r. Private to "besuchten": t.

"Besuchern" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC  ·  "besuchten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Besuchernbbesuchern · bescuhern · bessuchern · besucchern · besucehrn · besuchenr · besuchernn · besucherrn
  • besuchtenbbesuchten · bescuhten · bessuchten · besucchten · besuchetn · besuchhten · besuchtenn · besuchtne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Besuchern" for "besuchten" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Besuchern" is a noun and "besuchten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Besuchern" vs "besuchten" - which ranks higher?
"Besuchern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,293 in our German list, against #9,159 for "besuchten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Besuchern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "besuchten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,935,740 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Besuchern" and "besuchten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "beichten vs besuchten". 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 #1,935,740 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