abgelehntvsabgelehntenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,350
“abgelehnt” frequency rank
#43,681
“abgelehnten” frequency rank
47031
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abgelehnt abgelehnten
Definition zurückgewiesen, nicht genehmigt Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs abgelehnt

Where the eye mixes abgelehnt and abgelehnten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. abgelehnt runs 9 letters (VCCVCVCCC) against abgelehnten's 11 (VCCVCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
abgelehnt
11 ch
abgelehnten

Look-alike desk: abgelehnt vs abgelehnten

A purely visual mix-up. abgelehnt ([ˈapɡəˌleːnt]) and abgelehnten ([ˈapɡəˌleːntn̩]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “abgelehnt” sits inside “abgelehnten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47031, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abgelehnt is recorded at frequency rank #3,350, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈapɡəˌleːnt]. abgelehnten is at rank #43,681, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈapɡəˌleːntn̩].

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 47031, this pair ranks #1,298,576 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of abgelehnt vs abgelehnten

Shared letters: abeghlnt. Private to "abgelehnt": -. Private to "abgelehnten": -.

"abgelehnt" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCC  ·  "abgelehnten" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abgelehntabbgelehnt · abeglehnt · abgeelhnt · abgelehhnt · abgelehnnt · abgelehntt · abgelehtn · abgelenht
  • abgelehntenabbgelehnten · abeglehnten · abgeelhnten · abgelehhnten · abgelehnetn · abgelehnnten · abgelehntenn · abgelehntne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "abgelehnt" for "abgelehnten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈapɡəˌleːnt] versus [ˈapɡəˌleːntn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "abgelehnt" or "abgelehnten" show up more?
"abgelehnt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,350 in our German list, against #43,681 for "abgelehnten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "abgelehnt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "abgelehnten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,298,576 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abgelehnt" and "abgelehnten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abgelehnten vs ablehnten". 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 #1,298,576 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