bewohntevsbewohntenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“bewohnte” and “bewohnten” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#29,505
“bewohnte” frequency rank
#24,646
“bewohnten” frequency rank
54151
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bewohnte bewohnten
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs bewohnt Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs bewohnt

Where the eye mixes bewohnte and bewohnten

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

8 ch
bewohnte
9 ch
bewohnten

Visual trap between bewohnte and bewohnten

A purely visual mix-up. bewohnte ([bəˈvoːntə]) and bewohnten ([bəˈvoːntn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “bewohnte” sits inside “bewohnten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54151, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bewohnte is recorded at frequency rank #29,505, classified as anadj, pronounced [bəˈvoːntə]. bewohnten is at rank #24,646, tagged as anadj, pronounced [bəˈvoːntn̩].

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 54151, this pair ranks #1,030,103 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bewohnte vs bewohnten

Shared letters: behnotw. Private to "bewohnte": -. Private to "bewohnten": -.

"bewohnte" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCV  ·  "bewohnten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bewohntebbewohnte · beowhnte · bewhonte · bewohhnte · bewohnet · bewohnnte · bewohntte · bewohtne
  • bewohntenbbewohnten · beowhnten · bewhonten · bewohhnten · bewohnetn · bewohnnten · bewohntenn · bewohntne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bewohnte" for "bewohnten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([bəˈvoːntə] versus [bəˈvoːntn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "bewohnte" vs "bewohnten" - which ranks higher?
"bewohnten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,646 in our German list, against #29,505 for "bewohnte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bewohnte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bewohnten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,030,103 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bewohnte" and "bewohnten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "beiwohnen vs bewohnten". 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 #1,030,103 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