abgelehntvsabgelenktWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,350
“abgelehnt” frequency rank
#14,482
“abgelenkt” frequency rank
17832
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abgelehnt abgelenkt
Definition zurückgewiesen, nicht genehmigt geistig abwesend, nicht auf eine Sache konzentriert

Where the eye mixes abgelehnt and abgelenkt

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

9 ch
abgelehnt
9 ch
abgelenkt

Why the eye confuses abgelehnt with abgelenkt

A purely visual mix-up. abgelehnt ([ˈapɡəˌleːnt]) and abgelenkt ([ˈapɡəˌlɛŋkt]) 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 17832, 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]. abgelenkt is at rank #14,482, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈapɡəˌlɛŋkt].

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 17832, this pair ranks #1,923,857 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of abgelehnt vs abgelenkt

Shared letters: abeglnt. Private to "abgelehnt": h. Private to "abgelenkt": k.

"abgelehnt" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCC  ·  "abgelenkt" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abgelehnt ← abbgelehnt · abeglehnt · abgeelhnt · abgelehhnt · abgelehnnt · abgelehntt · abgelehtn · abgelenht
  • abgelenkt ← abbgelenkt · abeglenkt · abgeelnkt · abgeleknt · abgelenkkt · abgelenktt · abgelennkt · abgelentk

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "abgelehnt" and "abgelenkt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈapɡəˌleːnt] versus [ˈapɡəˌlɛŋkt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "abgelehnt" vs "abgelenkt" - which ranks higher?
"abgelehnt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,350 in our German list, against #14,482 for "abgelenkt". 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 "abgelehnt" and "abgelenkt" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "abgelehnt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "abgelenkt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,923,857 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abgelehnt" and "abgelenkt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abgelenkt vs ablenkt". 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 #1,923,857 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