abladenvsabratenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#41,620
“abladen” frequency rank
#41,622
“abraten” frequency rank
83242
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abladen abraten
Definition eine Ladung von einem Ort (zum Beispiel einem Transportfahrzeug) entfernen oder herunterheben jemandem raten, etwas nicht zu tun

Where the eye mixes abladen and abraten

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

7 ch
abladen
7 ch
abraten

Visual trap between abladen and abraten

A purely visual mix-up. abladen ([ˈapˌlaːdn̩]) and abraten ([ˈapˌʁaːtn̩]) 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 83242, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abladen is recorded at frequency rank #41,620, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌlaːdn̩]. abraten is at rank #41,622, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌʁaːtn̩].

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 83242, this pair ranks #143,208 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of abladen vs abraten

Shared letters: aben. Private to "abladen": dl. Private to "abraten": rt.

"abladen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "abraten" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abladen ← abalden · abbladen · abladden · abladenn · abladne · ablaedn · abldaen · albaden
  • abraten ← abarten · abbraten · abraetn · abratenn · abratne · abratten · abrraten · abrtaen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "abladen" and "abraten" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈapˌlaːdn̩] versus [ˈapˌʁaːtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "abladen" or "abraten"?
"abladen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,620 in our German list, against #41,622 for "abraten". 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 "abladen" and "abraten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "abladen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "abraten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #143,208 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abladen" and "abraten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abraten vs abtragen". 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 #143,208 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