abartigvsartigTell them apart

Which to use

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

#21,863
“abartig” frequency rank
#20,505
“artig” frequency rank
42368
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abartig artig
Definition von der Art, der Norm abweichend; in der übertragenen Form oftmals in negativ bewertetem Sinne nett, lieb und vernünftig

Where the eye mixes abartig and artig

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. abartig runs 7 letters (VCVCCVC) against artig's 5 (VCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
abartig
5 ch
artig

Look-alike desk: abartig vs artig

A purely visual mix-up. abartig ([ˈapˌʔaʁtɪç]) and artig ([ˈaːɐ̯tɪç]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “artig” sits inside “abartig”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42368, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abartig is recorded at frequency rank #21,863, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈapˌʔaʁtɪç]. artig is at rank #20,505, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈaːɐ̯tɪç].

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 42368, this pair ranks #1,451,507 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of abartig vs artig

Shared letters: agirt. Private to "abartig": b. Private to "artig": -.

"abartig" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC  ·  "artig" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abartig ← aabrtig · abaritg · abarrtig · abartgi · abartigg · abarttig · abatrig · abbartig
  • artig ← aritg · arrtig · artgi · artigg · arttig · atrig · ratig

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "abartig" for "artig" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈapˌʔaʁtɪç] versus [ˈaːɐ̯tɪç]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "abartig" or "artig" show up more?
"artig" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,505 in our German list, against #21,863 for "abartig". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "abartig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "artig" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,451,507 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abartig" and "artig" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "antik vs artig". 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 #1,451,507 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