abbringenvsanbringenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#26,278
“abbringen” frequency rank
#13,761
“anbringen” frequency rank
40039
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abbringen anbringen
Definition etwas entfernen, lösen etwas (unerfreulicherweise) herbringen

Where the eye mixes abbringen and anbringen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. abbringen and anbringen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
abbringen
9 ch
anbringen

Look-alike desk: abbringen vs anbringen

A purely visual mix-up. abbringen ([ˈapˌbʁɪŋən]) and anbringen ([ˈanˌbʁɪŋən]) 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 “abbringen” becomes n in “anbringen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40039, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abbringen is recorded at frequency rank #26,278, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌbʁɪŋən]. anbringen is at rank #13,761, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈanˌbʁɪŋən].

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 40039, this pair ranks #1,519,737 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of abbringen vs anbringen

Shared letters: abeginr. Private to "abbringen": -. Private to "anbringen": -.

"abbringen" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCVC  ·  "anbringen" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abbringen ← abbirngen · abbrignen · abbrinegn · abbringenn · abbringgen · abbringne · abbrinngen · abbrnigen
  • anbringen ← abnringen · anbbringen · anbirngen · anbrignen · anbrinegn · anbringenn · anbringgen · anbringne

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "abbringen" and "anbringen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈapˌbʁɪŋən] versus [ˈanˌbʁɪŋən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "abbringen" vs "anbringen" - which ranks higher?
"anbringen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,761 in our German list, against #26,278 for "abbringen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "abbringen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "anbringen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,519,737 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abbringen" and "anbringen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abbringen vs abzubringen". 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 #1,519,737 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