abgelehntvsangelehntTell them apart

Quick tell: abgelehnt is a adjective, angelehnt is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#3,350
“abgelehnt” frequency rank
#19,814
“angelehnt” frequency rank
23164
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abgelehnt angelehnt
Definition zurückgewiesen, nicht genehmigt Partizip Perfekt des Verbs anlehnen

Where the eye mixes abgelehnt and angelehnt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. abgelehnt and angelehnt 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
angelehnt

Visual trap between abgelehnt and angelehnt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: abgelehnt is [ˈapɡəˌleːnt] while angelehnt is [ˈanɡəˌleːnt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - b in “abgelehnt” becomes n in “angelehnt”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23164, 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]. angelehnt is at rank #19,814, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈanɡəˌleːnt].

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 23164, this pair ranks #1,864,954 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of abgelehnt vs angelehnt

Shared letters: aeghlnt. Private to "abgelehnt": b. Private to "angelehnt": -.

"abgelehnt" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCC  ·  "angelehnt" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abgelehnt ← abbgelehnt · abeglehnt · abgeelhnt · abgelehhnt · abgelehnnt · abgelehntt · abgelehtn · abgelenht
  • angelehnt ← agnelehnt · aneglehnt · angeelhnt · angelehhnt · angelehnnt · angelehntt · angelehtn · angelenht

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "abgelehnt" and "angelehnt" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "abgelehnt" is an adjective and "angelehnt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "abgelehnt" vs "angelehnt" - which ranks higher?
"abgelehnt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,350 in our German list, against #19,814 for "angelehnt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "abgelehnt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "angelehnt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,864,954 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abgelehnt" and "angelehnt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "angelehnt vs angewöhnt". 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 #1,864,954 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