besuchtevsbrauchteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: besuchte is a adjective, brauchte is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#5,346
“besuchte” frequency rank
#4,185
“brauchte” frequency rank
9531
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature besuchte brauchte
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs besucht 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs brauchen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set besuchte and brauchte apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
besuchte
8 ch
brauchte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: besuchte is [bəˈzuːxtə] while brauchte is [ˈbʁaʊ̯xtə]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9531, 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]. brauchte is at rank #4,185, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈbʁaʊ̯xtə].

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 9531, this pair ranks #1,979,501 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of besuchte vs brauchte

Shared letters: bcehtu. Private to "besuchte": s. Private to "brauchte": ar.

"besuchte" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCV  ·  "brauchte" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • besuchtebbesuchte · bescuhte · bessuchte · besucchte · besuchet · besuchhte · besuchtte · besucthe
  • brauchtebaruchte · bbrauchte · bracuhte · braucchte · brauchet · brauchhte · brauchtte · braucthe

Frequency comparison

besuchte#5,346
brauchte#4,185

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "besuchte" and "brauchte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "besuchte" is an adjective and "brauchte" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "besuchte" or "brauchte"?
"brauchte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,185 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.

Remembering besuchte vs brauchte

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “besuchte”; for a verb, it's “brauchte”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “besuchte” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list