abklärenvsanklagenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#39,761
“abklären” frequency rank
#21,159
“anklagen” frequency rank
60920
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abklären anklagen
Definition Klarheit über eine Angelegenheit schaffen; vollständig klären jemanden beschuldigen, unzulänglich zu sein oder etwas Schlechtes getan zu haben

Where the eye mixes abklären and anklagen

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

8 ch
abklären
8 ch
anklagen

Visual trap between abklären and anklagen

A purely visual mix-up. abklären ([ˈapˌklɛːʁən]) and anklagen ([ˈanˌklaːɡn̩]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60920, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abklären is recorded at frequency rank #39,761, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌklɛːʁən]. anklagen is at rank #21,159, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈanˌklaːɡn̩].

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 60920, this pair ranks #768,961 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of abklären vs anklagen

Shared letters: aekln. Private to "abklären": brä. Private to "anklagen": g.

"abklären" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC  ·  "anklagen" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • anklagen ← aknlagen · ankalgen · ankklagen · anklaegn · anklagenn · anklaggen · anklagne · anklgaen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "abklären" for "anklagen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈapˌklɛːʁən] versus [ˈanˌklaːɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "abklären" vs "anklagen" - which ranks higher?
"anklagen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,159 in our German list, against #39,761 for "abklären". 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 "abklären" and "anklagen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "abklären" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "anklagen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #768,961 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abklären" and "anklagen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abklären vs Abklärung". 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 #768,961 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