bewegenvsbewegtenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#1,960
“bewegen” frequency rank
#14,754
“bewegten” frequency rank
16714
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bewegen bewegten
Definition die Lage oder Stellung von etwas im Raum verändern; etwas von einem Ort zum anderen schaffen Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs bewegt

Where the eye mixes bewegen and bewegten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. bewegen runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against bewegten's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
bewegen
8 ch
bewegten

Why the eye confuses bewegen with bewegten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bewegen is [bəˈveːɡn̩] while bewegten is [bəˈveːktn̩]. 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 16714, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bewegen is recorded at frequency rank #1,960, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈveːɡn̩]. bewegten is at rank #14,754, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈveːktn̩].

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 16714, this pair ranks #1,933,579 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bewegen vs bewegten

Shared letters: begnw. Private to "bewegen": -. Private to "bewegten": t.

"bewegen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "bewegten" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bewegenbbewegen · beewgen · beweegn · bewegenn · beweggen · bewegne · bewgeen · bewwegen
  • bewegtenbbewegten · beewgten · bewegetn · beweggten · bewegtenn · bewegtne · bewegtten · bewetgen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bewegen" and "bewegten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bewegen" is a verb and "bewegten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "bewegen" vs "bewegten" - which ranks higher?
"bewegen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,960 in our German list, against #14,754 for "bewegten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "bewegen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bewegten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,933,579 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bewegen" and "bewegten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bewegend vs bewegten". 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 #1,933,579 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