ablegenvsablehnenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#9,496
“ablegen” frequency rank
#7,856
“ablehnen” frequency rank
17352
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ablegen ablehnen
Definition fortlegen, niederlegen, irgendwohin legen zu etwas nein sagen; etwas zurückweisen oder missbilligen

Where the eye mixes ablegen and ablehnen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
ablegen
8 ch
ablehnen

Visual trap between ablegen and ablehnen

A purely visual mix-up. ablegen ([ˈapˌleːɡn̩]) and ablehnen ([ˈapˌleːnən]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17352, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ablegen is recorded at frequency rank #9,496, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌleːɡn̩]. ablehnen is at rank #7,856, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌleːnən].

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 17352, this pair ranks #1,928,133 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ablegen vs ablehnen

Shared letters: abeln. Private to "ablegen": g. Private to "ablehnen": h.

"ablegen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "ablehnen" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ablegenabblegen · abelgen · ableegn · ablegenn · ableggen · ablegne · ablgeen · abllegen
  • ablehnenabblehnen · abelhnen · ablehenn · ablehhnen · ablehnenn · ablehnne · ablehnnen · ablenhen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ablegen" and "ablehnen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈapˌleːɡn̩] versus [ˈapˌleːnən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ablegen" or "ablehnen"?
"ablehnen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,856 in our German list, against #9,496 for "ablegen". 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 "ablegen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ablehnen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,928,133 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ablegen" and "ablehnen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abgelegen vs ablegen". 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 #1,928,133 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