besuchtvsbesuchtenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,489
“besucht” frequency rank
#9,159
“besuchten” frequency rank
11648
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature besucht besuchten
Definition viele oder wenige Besucher habend Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs besucht

Where the eye mixes besucht and besuchten

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

7 ch
besucht
9 ch
besuchten

Why the eye confuses besucht with besuchten

A purely visual mix-up. besucht ([bəˈzuːxt]) and besuchten ([bəˈzuːxtn̩]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “besucht” sits inside “besuchten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11648, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

besucht is recorded at frequency rank #2,489, classified as anadj, pronounced [bəˈzuːxt]. 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 11648, this pair ranks #1,968,691 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of besucht vs besuchten

Shared letters: bcehstu. Private to "besucht": -. Private to "besuchten": n.

"besucht" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC  ·  "besuchten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • besuchtbbesucht · bescuht · bessucht · besuccht · besuchht · besuchtt · besucth · besuhct
  • besuchtenbbesuchten · bescuhten · bessuchten · besucchten · besuchetn · besuchhten · besuchtenn · besuchtne

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "besucht" and "besuchten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈzuːxt] versus [bəˈzuːxtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "besucht" or "besuchten"?
"besucht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,489 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.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "besucht" and "besuchten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "besucht" 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 #1,968,691 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "besucht" 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 #1,968,691 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