abgehörtvsangehörteTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#22,597
“abgehört” frequency rank
#27,608
“angehörte” frequency rank
50205
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abgehört angehörte
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs abhören Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs angehört

Where the eye mixes abgehört and angehörte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. abgehört runs 8 letters (VCCVCVCC) against angehörte's 9 (VCCVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
abgehört
9 ch
angehörte

Look-alike desk: abgehört vs angehörte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: abgehört is [ˈapɡəˌhøːɐ̯t] while angehörte is [ˈanɡəˌhøːɐ̯tə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50205, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abgehört is recorded at frequency rank #22,597, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈapɡəˌhøːɐ̯t]. angehörte is at rank #27,608, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈanɡəˌhøːɐ̯tə].

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 50205, this pair ranks #1,182,595 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of abgehört vs angehörte

Shared letters: aeghrtö. Private to "abgehört": b. Private to "angehörte": n.

"abgehört" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC  ·  "angehörte" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "abgehört" for "angehörte" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "abgehört" is a verb and "angehörte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "abgehört" or "angehörte"?
"abgehört" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,597 in our German list, against #27,608 for "angehörte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "abgehört" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "angehörte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,182,595 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abgehört" and "angehörte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "angehörte vs angehörten". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,182,595 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