betontevsbetreteTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#7,295
“betonte” frequency rank
#48,776
“betrete” frequency rank
56071
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature betonte betrete
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs betont 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs betreten

Where the eye mixes betonte and betrete

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. betonte (CVCVCCV) and betrete (CVCCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
betonte
7 ch
betrete

Visual trap between betonte and betrete

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: betonte is [bəˈtoːntə] while betrete is [bəˈtʁeːtə]. 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 56071, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

betonte is recorded at frequency rank #7,295, classified as anadj, pronounced [bəˈtoːntə]. betrete is at rank #48,776, tagged as averb, pronounced [bəˈtʁeːtə].

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 56071, this pair ranks #954,720 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of betonte vs betrete

Shared letters: bet. Private to "betonte": no. Private to "betrete": r.

"betonte" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "betrete" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • betontebbetonte · beotnte · betnote · betonet · betonnte · betontte · betotne · bettonte
  • betretebbetrete · bertete · beterte · betreet · betrette · betrrete · betrtee · bettrete

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "betonte" for "betrete" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "betonte" is an adjective and "betrete" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "betonte" or "betrete"?
"betonte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,295 in our German list, against #48,776 for "betrete". 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 "betonte" and "betrete" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "betonte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "betrete" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #954,720 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "betonte" and "betrete" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "betrete vs betreutes". 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 #954,720 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