Which to use
“abfragen” and “abtragen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,414
- “abfragen” frequency rank
- #49,443
- “abtragen” frequency rank
- 82857
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | abfragen | abtragen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Prüfungsfragen stellen | schichtweise entfernen |
Where the eye mixes abfragen and abtragen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. abfragen and abtragen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: abfragen vs abtragen
A purely visual mix-up. abfragen ([ˈapˌfʁaːɡn̩]) and abtragen ([ˈapˌtʁaːɡn̩]) 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 - f in “abfragen” becomes t in “abtragen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82857, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
abfragen is recorded at frequency rank #33,414, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌfʁaːɡn̩]. abtragen is at rank #49,443, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌtʁaːɡn̩].
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 82857, this pair ranks #149,746 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of abfragen vs abtragen
Shared letters: abegnr. Private to "abfragen": f. Private to "abtragen": t.
"abfragen" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC · "abtragen" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "abfragen" and "abtragen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "abfragen" or "abtragen" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "abfragen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "abtragen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #149,746 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "abfragen" and "abtragen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abraten vs abtragen". 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 #149,746 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.