abgegebenvsabgelegenTell them apart

Quick tell: abgegeben is a verb, abgelegen is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“abgegeben” is a verb and “abgelegen” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,405
“abgegeben” frequency rank
#49,436
“abgelegen” frequency rank
53841
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abgegeben abgelegen
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs abgeben weit weg und schlecht zugänglich

Where the eye mixes abgegeben and abgelegen

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

9 ch
abgegeben
9 ch
abgelegen

Look-alike desk: abgegeben vs abgelegen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: abgegeben is [ˈapɡəˌɡeːbn̩] while abgelegen is [ˈapɡəˌleːɡn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53841, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abgegeben is recorded at frequency rank #4,405, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈapɡəˌɡeːbn̩]. abgelegen is at rank #49,436, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈapɡəˌleːɡn̩].

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 53841, this pair ranks #1,042,242 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of abgegeben vs abgelegen

Shared letters: abegn. Private to "abgegeben": -. Private to "abgelegen": l.

"abgegeben" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC  ·  "abgelegen" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abgegeben ← abbgegeben · abeggeben · abgeegben · abgegbeen · abgegebben · abgegebenn · abgegebne · abgegeebn
  • abgelegen ← abbgelegen · abeglegen · abgeelgen · abgeleegn · abgelegenn · abgeleggen · abgelegne · abgelgeen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "abgegeben" and "abgelegen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "abgegeben" is a verb and "abgelegen" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "abgegeben" vs "abgelegen" - which ranks higher?
"abgegeben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,405 in our German list, against #49,436 for "abgelegen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "abgegeben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "abgelegen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,042,242 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abgegeben" and "abgelegen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abgeladen vs abgelegen". 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 #1,042,242 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