beteiligenvsbeteiligteConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#6,514
“beteiligen” frequency rank
#11,393
“beteiligte” frequency rank
17907
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature beteiligen beteiligte
Definition an etwas teilnehmen oder teilhaben Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs beteiligt

Where the eye mixes beteiligen and beteiligte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. beteiligen (CVCVVCVCVC) and beteiligte (CVCVVCVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

10 ch
beteiligen
10 ch
beteiligte

Why the eye confuses beteiligen with beteiligte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: beteiligen is [bəˈtaɪ̯lɪɡn̩] while beteiligte is [bəˈtaɪ̯lɪçtə]. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17907, 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]. beteiligte is at rank #11,393, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈtaɪ̯lɪçtə].

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 17907, this pair ranks #1,923,182 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of beteiligen vs beteiligte

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

"beteiligen" · 10 letters · shape CVCVVCVCVC  ·  "beteiligte" · 10 letters · shape CVCVVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • beteiligenbbeteiligen · beetiligen · beteiilgen · beteilgien · beteiliegn · beteiligenn · beteiliggen · beteiligne
  • beteiligtebbeteiligte · beetiligte · beteiilgte · beteilgite · beteiliget · beteiliggte · beteiligtte · beteilitge

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "beteiligen" and "beteiligte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "beteiligen" is a verb and "beteiligte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "beteiligen" or "beteiligte" show up more?
"beteiligen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,514 in our German list, against #11,393 for "beteiligte". 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 "beteiligte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,923,182 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "beteiligen" and "beteiligte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "beteilige vs beteiligte". 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 #1,923,182 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