Which to use
“abbauen” and “abhauen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,281
- “abbauen” frequency rank
- #25,868
- “abhauen” frequency rank
- 41149
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | abbauen | abhauen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | bauliche und andere (auch zeitweilig errichteten) technische oder künstliche Anlagen, Einrichtungen, Aufbauten und Ähnliches beseitigen, zurückbauen | etwas abschlagen, abtrennen (starke und schwache Konjugation: hieb/haute ab und abgehauen/abgehaut) |
Where the eye mixes abbauen and abhauen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. abbauen and abhauen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between abbauen and abhauen
A purely visual mix-up. abbauen ([ˈapˌbaʊ̯ən]) and abhauen ([ˈapˌhaʊ̯ən]) 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 a single letter - b in “abbauen” becomes h in “abhauen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41149, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
abbauen is recorded at frequency rank #15,281, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌbaʊ̯ən]. abhauen is at rank #25,868, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌhaʊ̯ən].
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 41149, this pair ranks #1,487,894 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of abbauen vs abhauen
Shared letters: abenu. Private to "abbauen": -. Private to "abhauen": h.
"abbauen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVVC · "abhauen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "abbauen" and "abhauen" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "abbauen" vs "abhauen" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "abbauen" and "abhauen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "abbauen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "abhauen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,487,894 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "abbauen" and "abhauen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abhauen vs absaugen". 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 #1,487,894 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.