abgefahrenvsabgefallenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#14,481
“abgefahren” frequency rank
#37,334
“abgefallen” frequency rank
51815
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abgefahren abgefallen
Definition eine Fahrt, eine Strecke fahrenderweise, die Abfahrt und den Abfahrtszeitpunkt hinter sich gebracht habend ein im Ergebnis einer abwärts gerichteten, fallenden, (sich) lösenden Bewegung entstandener Zustand

Where the eye mixes abgefahren and abgefallen

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

10 ch
abgefahren
10 ch
abgefallen

Look-alike desk: abgefahren vs abgefallen

A purely visual mix-up. abgefahren ([ˈapɡəˌfaːʁən]) and abgefallen ([ˈapɡəˌfalən]) 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 51815, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abgefahren is recorded at frequency rank #14,481, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈapɡəˌfaːʁən]. abgefallen is at rank #37,334, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈapɡəˌfalən].

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 51815, this pair ranks #1,120,993 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of abgefahren vs abgefallen

Shared letters: abefgn. Private to "abgefahren": hr. Private to "abgefallen": l.

"abgefahren" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCCVC  ·  "abgefallen" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abgefahren ← abbgefahren · abegfahren · abgeafhren · abgefahern · abgefahhren · abgefahrenn · abgefahrne · abgefahrren
  • abgefallen ← abbgefallen · abegfallen · abgeafllen · abgefaleln · abgefalen · abgefallenn · abgefallne · abgeffallen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "abgefahren" and "abgefallen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈapɡəˌfaːʁən] versus [ˈapɡəˌfalən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "abgefahren" or "abgefallen" show up more?
"abgefahren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,481 in our German list, against #37,334 for "abgefallen". 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 "abgefahren" and "abgefallen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "abgefahren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "abgefallen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,120,993 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abgefahren" and "abgefallen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abgefallen vs angefallen". 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 #1,120,993 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