festgesetztvsfestgesetztenConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#13,819
“festgesetzt” frequency rank
#40,532
“festgesetzten” frequency rank
54351
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature festgesetzt festgesetzten
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs festsetzen Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs festgesetzt

Where the eye mixes festgesetzt and festgesetzten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence. festgesetzt runs 11 letters (CVCCCVCVCCC) against festgesetzten's 13 (CVCCCVCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch
festgesetzt
13 ch
festgesetzten

Visual trap between festgesetzt and festgesetzten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: festgesetzt is [ˈfɛstɡəˌzɛt͡st] while festgesetzten is [ˈfɛstɡəˌzɛt͡stn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “festgesetzt” sits inside “festgesetzten”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54351, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

festgesetzt is recorded at frequency rank #13,819, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfɛstɡəˌzɛt͡st]. festgesetzten is at rank #40,532, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfɛstɡəˌzɛt͡stn̩].

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 54351, this pair ranks #1,022,349 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of festgesetzt vs festgesetzten

Shared letters: efgstz. Private to "festgesetzt": -. Private to "festgesetzten": n.

"festgesetzt" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCCC  ·  "festgesetzten" · 13 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • festgesetzt ← efstgesetzt · fesgtesetzt · fesstgesetzt · festegsetzt · festgeestzt · festgesettz · festgesettzt · festgesetztt
  • festgesetzten ← efstgesetzten · fesgtesetzten · fesstgesetzten · festegsetzten · festgeestzten · festgesettzen · festgesettzten · festgesetzetn

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "festgesetzt" and "festgesetzten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "festgesetzt" is a verb and "festgesetzten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "festgesetzt" or "festgesetzten" show up more?
"festgesetzt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,819 in our German list, against #40,532 for "festgesetzten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "festgesetzt" and "festgesetzten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "festgesetzt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "festgesetzten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,022,349 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "festgesetzt" and "festgesetzten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "festgesetzt vs fortgesetzt". 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 #1,022,349 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