Which to use
“abheben” and “absehen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,850
- “abheben” frequency rank
- #26,726
- “absehen” frequency rank
- 39576
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | abheben | absehen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | etwas von etwas anderem, zum Beispiel auch einer Unterlage oder einem Unterteil, herunternehmen | (zukünftige Ereignisse) voraussehen |
Where the eye mixes abheben and absehen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. abheben and absehen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between abheben and absehen
A purely visual mix-up. abheben ([ˈapˌheːbn̩]) and absehen ([ˈapˌz̥eːən]) 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 39576, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
abheben is recorded at frequency rank #12,850, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌheːbn̩]. absehen is at rank #26,726, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌz̥eːən].
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 39576, this pair ranks #1,532,935 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of abheben vs absehen
Shared letters: abehn. Private to "abheben": -. Private to "absehen": s.
"abheben" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC · "absehen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "abheben" for "absehen" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "abheben" or "absehen" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "abheben" and "absehen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "abheben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "absehen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,532,935 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "abheben" and "absehen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abdrehen vs absehen". 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 #1,532,935 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.