BesuchesvsbesuchtenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#32,446
“Besuches” frequency rank
#9,159
“besuchten” frequency rank
41605
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Besuches besuchten
Definition Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Besuch Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs besucht

Where the eye mixes Besuches and besuchten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. Besuches runs 8 letters (CVCVCCVC) against besuchten's 9 (CVCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
Besuches
9 ch
besuchten

Look-alike desk: Besuches vs besuchten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Besuches is [bəˈzuːxəs] while besuchten is [bəˈzuːxtn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41605, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Besuches is recorded at frequency rank #32,446, classified as anoun, pronounced [bəˈzuːxəs]. 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 41605, this pair ranks #1,474,448 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Besuches vs besuchten

Shared letters: bcehsu. Private to "Besuches": -. Private to "besuchten": nt.

"Besuches" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "besuchten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Besuchesbbesuches · bescuhes · bessuches · besucches · besucehs · besuchess · besuchhes · besuchse
  • besuchtenbbesuchten · bescuhten · bessuchten · besucchten · besuchetn · besuchhten · besuchtenn · besuchtne

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Besuches" and "besuchten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Besuches" is a noun and "besuchten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Besuches" or "besuchten"?
"besuchten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,159 in our German list, against #32,446 for "Besuches". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Besuches" 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 #1,474,448 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Besuches" and "besuchten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Besuches vs besuchst". 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 #1,474,448 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