beteiligenvsbeteiligtWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: beteiligen is a verb, beteiligt is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#6,514
“beteiligen” frequency rank
#2,053
“beteiligt” frequency rank
8567
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature beteiligen beteiligt
Definition an etwas teilnehmen oder teilhaben als Partizip Passiv, in „beteiligt sein“: Ein Teil sein von, teilnehmen, mitmachen, teilhaben, aufmerksam sein

Where the eye mixes beteiligen and beteiligt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. beteiligen runs 10 letters (CVCVVCVCVC) against beteiligt's 9 (CVCVVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
beteiligen
9 ch
beteiligt

Why the eye confuses beteiligen with beteiligt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: beteiligen is [bəˈtaɪ̯lɪɡn̩] while beteiligt is [bəˈtaɪ̯lɪçt]. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8567, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

beteiligen is recorded at frequency rank #6,514, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈtaɪ̯lɪɡn̩]. beteiligt is at rank #2,053, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈtaɪ̯lɪçt].

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 8567, this pair ranks #1,983,776 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of beteiligen vs beteiligt

Shared letters: begilt. Private to "beteiligen": n. Private to "beteiligt": -.

"beteiligen" · 10 letters · shape CVCVVCVCVC  ·  "beteiligt" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • beteiligenbbeteiligen · beetiligen · beteiilgen · beteilgien · beteiliegn · beteiligenn · beteiliggen · beteiligne
  • beteiligtbbeteiligt · beetiligt · beteiilgt · beteilgit · beteiliggt · beteiligtt · beteilitg · beteilligt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "beteiligen" and "beteiligt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "beteiligen" is a verb and "beteiligt" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "beteiligen" vs "beteiligt" - which ranks higher?
"beteiligt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,053 in our German list, against #6,514 for "beteiligen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "beteiligen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "beteiligt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,983,776 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "beteiligen" and "beteiligt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "beteilige vs beteiligen". 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 #1,983,776 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