abhörenvsablösenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#27,172
“abhören” frequency rank
#20,483
“ablösen” frequency rank
47655
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abhören ablösen
Definition Gelerntes aufsagen lassen und dadurch den Erfolg kontrollieren eine Aufgabe für jemanden übernehmen, jemanden ersetzen

Where the eye mixes abhören and ablösen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. abhören and ablösen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
abhören
7 ch
ablösen

Look-alike desk: abhören vs ablösen

A purely visual mix-up. abhören ([ˈapˌhøːʁən]) and ablösen ([ˈapˌløːzn̩]) 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 47655, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abhören is recorded at frequency rank #27,172, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌhøːʁən]. ablösen is at rank #20,483, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌløːzn̩].

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 47655, this pair ranks #1,276,695 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of abhören vs ablösen

Shared letters: abenö. Private to "abhören": hr. Private to "ablösen": ls.

"abhören" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "ablösen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "abhören" for "ablösen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈapˌhøːʁən] versus [ˈapˌløːzn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "abhören" vs "ablösen" - which ranks higher?
"ablösen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,483 in our German list, against #27,172 for "abhören". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "abhören" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ablösen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,276,695 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abhören" and "ablösen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abhören vs Azoren". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,276,695 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