abbrechenvsabbremsenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,405
“abbrechen” frequency rank
#38,547
“abbremsen” frequency rank
48952
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abbrechen abbremsen
Definition durch Krafteinwirkung einen Teil vom Ganzen trennen, teilen eine Bewegung beenden oder die Geschwindigkeit herabsetzen

Where the eye mixes abbrechen and abbremsen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. abbrechen and abbremsen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
abbrechen
9 ch
abbremsen

Look-alike desk: abbrechen vs abbremsen

A purely visual mix-up. abbrechen ([ˈapˌbʁɛçn̩]) and abbremsen ([ˈapˌbʁɛmzn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48952, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abbrechen is recorded at frequency rank #10,405, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌbʁɛçn̩]. abbremsen is at rank #38,547, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌbʁɛmzn̩].

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 48952, this pair ranks #1,229,461 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of abbrechen vs abbremsen

Shared letters: abenr. Private to "abbrechen": ch. Private to "abbremsen": ms.

"abbrechen" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCVC  ·  "abbremsen" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abbrechen ← abberchen · abbrcehen · abbrecchen · abbrecehn · abbrechenn · abbrechhen · abbrechne · abbrehcen
  • abbremsen ← abbermsen · abbremesn · abbremmsen · abbremsenn · abbremsne · abbremssen · abbresmen · abbrmesen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "abbrechen" for "abbremsen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈapˌbʁɛçn̩] versus [ˈapˌbʁɛmzn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "abbrechen" or "abbremsen" show up more?
"abbrechen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,405 in our German list, against #38,547 for "abbremsen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "abbrechen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "abbremsen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,229,461 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abbrechen" and "abbremsen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abbremsen vs abbrennen". 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 #1,229,461 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