bewilligtvsbewilligteTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#15,580
“bewilligt” frequency rank
#43,766
“bewilligte” frequency rank
59346
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bewilligt bewilligte
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs bewilligen Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs bewilligt

Where the eye mixes bewilligt and bewilligte

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

9 ch
bewilligt
10 ch
bewilligte

Look-alike desk: bewilligt vs bewilligte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bewilligt is [bəˈvɪlɪçt] while bewilligte is [bəˈvɪlɪçtə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “bewilligt” sits inside “bewilligte”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59346, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bewilligt is recorded at frequency rank #15,580, classified as averb, pronounced [bəˈvɪlɪçt]. bewilligte is at rank #43,766, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈvɪlɪçtə].

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 59346, this pair ranks #827,938 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bewilligt vs bewilligte

Shared letters: begiltw. Private to "bewilligt": -. Private to "bewilligte": -.

"bewilligt" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC  ·  "bewilligte" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bewilligtbbewilligt · beiwlligt · bewiligt · bewililgt · bewillgit · bewilliggt · bewilligtt · bewillitg
  • bewilligtebbewilligte · beiwlligte · bewiligte · bewililgte · bewillgite · bewilliget · bewilliggte · bewilligtte

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bewilligt" and "bewilligte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bewilligt" is a verb and "bewilligte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "bewilligt" or "bewilligte"?
"bewilligt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,580 in our German list, against #43,766 for "bewilligte". 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 "bewilligt" and "bewilligte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bewilligt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bewilligte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #827,938 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bewilligt" and "bewilligte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bewilligte vs billigte". 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 #827,938 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