abgehaltenvsabgehauenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#8,502
“abgehalten” frequency rank
#28,975
“abgehauen” frequency rank
37477
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abgehalten abgehauen
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs abhalten Partizip Perfekt des Verbs abhauen

Where the eye mixes abgehalten and abgehauen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. abgehalten runs 10 letters (VCCVCVCCVC) against abgehauen's 9 (VCCVCVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
abgehalten
9 ch
abgehauen

Look-alike desk: abgehalten vs abgehauen

A purely visual mix-up. abgehalten ([ˈapɡəˌhaltn̩]) and abgehauen ([ˈapɡəˌhaʊ̯ən]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37477, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abgehalten is recorded at frequency rank #8,502, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈapɡəˌhaltn̩]. abgehauen is at rank #28,975, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈapɡəˌhaʊ̯ən].

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 37477, this pair ranks #1,589,190 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of abgehalten vs abgehauen

Shared letters: abeghn. Private to "abgehalten": lt. Private to "abgehauen": u.

"abgehalten" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCCVC  ·  "abgehauen" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abgehalten ← abbgehalten · abeghalten · abgeahlten · abgehaletn · abgehallten · abgehaltenn · abgehaltne · abgehaltten
  • abgehauen ← abbgehauen · abeghauen · abgeahuen · abgehaeun · abgehauenn · abgehaune · abgehhauen · abgehuaen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "abgehalten" for "abgehauen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈapɡəˌhaltn̩] versus [ˈapɡəˌhaʊ̯ən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "abgehalten" or "abgehauen" show up more?
"abgehalten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,502 in our German list, against #28,975 for "abgehauen". 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 "abgehalten" and "abgehauen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "abgehalten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "abgehauen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,589,190 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abgehalten" and "abgehauen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abgehauen vs abgeladen". 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 #1,589,190 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