AbfahrtvsAnfahrtTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,136
“Abfahrt” frequency rank
#25,034
“Anfahrt” frequency rank
31170
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Abfahrt Anfahrt
Definition Beginn einer Fahrt (meist zu einem bestimmten Zeitpunkt oder ab einem bestimmten, örtlich festgelegten Punkt) Strecke/Weg zu einem Ziel

Where the eye mixes Abfahrt and Anfahrt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Abfahrt and Anfahrt follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
Abfahrt
7 ch
Anfahrt

Visual trap between Abfahrt and Anfahrt

A purely visual mix-up. Abfahrt ([ˈapˌfaːɐ̯t]) and Anfahrt ([ˈanˌfaːɐ̯t]) 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 “Abfahrt” becomes n in “Anfahrt”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31170, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Abfahrt is recorded at frequency rank #6,136, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈapˌfaːɐ̯t]. Anfahrt is at rank #25,034, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈanˌfaːɐ̯t].

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 31170, this pair ranks #1,733,440 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Abfahrt vs Anfahrt

Shared letters: afhrt. Private to "Abfahrt": b. Private to "Anfahrt": n.

"Abfahrt" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCC  ·  "Anfahrt" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Abfahrt ← abafhrt · abbfahrt · abfahhrt · abfahrrt · abfahrtt · abfahtr · abfarht · abffahrt
  • Anfahrt ← afnahrt · anafhrt · anfahhrt · anfahrrt · anfahrtt · anfahtr · anfarht · anffahrt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Abfahrt" and "Anfahrt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈapˌfaːɐ̯t] versus [ˈanˌfaːɐ̯t]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Abfahrt" vs "Anfahrt" - which ranks higher?
"Abfahrt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,136 in our German list, against #25,034 for "Anfahrt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Abfahrt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Anfahrt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,733,440 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Abfahrt" and "Anfahrt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Anfahrt vs anfasst". 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 #1,733,440 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