besuchtevsbesuchtenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#5,346
“besuchte” frequency rank
#9,159
“besuchten” frequency rank
14505
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature besuchte besuchten
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs besucht Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs besucht

Where the eye mixes besuchte and besuchten

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

8 ch
besuchte
9 ch
besuchten

Look-alike desk: besuchte vs besuchten

A purely visual mix-up. besuchte ([bəˈzuːxtə]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “besuchte” sits inside “besuchten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14505, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

besuchte is recorded at frequency rank #5,346, classified as anadj, pronounced [bəˈzuːxtə]. 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 14505, this pair ranks #1,950,738 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of besuchte vs besuchten

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

"besuchte" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCV  ·  "besuchten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • besuchte ← bbesuchte · bescuhte · bessuchte · besucchte · besuchet · besuchhte · besuchtte · besucthe
  • besuchten ← bbesuchten · bescuhten · bessuchten · besucchten · besuchetn · besuchhten · besuchtenn · besuchtne

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "besuchte" and "besuchten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈzuːxtə] versus [bəˈzuːxtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "besuchte" or "besuchten" show up more?
"besuchte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,346 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

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "besuchte" 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 #1,950,738 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "besuchte" and "besuchten" 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 #1,950,738 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