ablegenvsableitenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#9,496
“ablegen” frequency rank
#13,299
“ableiten” frequency rank
22795
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ablegen ableiten
Definition fortlegen, niederlegen, irgendwohin legen etwas abzweigen lassen, abführen

Where the eye mixes ablegen and ableiten

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

7 ch
ablegen
8 ch
ableiten

Why the eye confuses ablegen with ableiten

A purely visual mix-up. ablegen ([ˈapˌleːɡn̩]) and ableiten ([ˈapˌlaɪ̯tn̩]) 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 22795, 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]. ableiten is at rank #13,299, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌlaɪ̯tn̩].

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 22795, this pair ranks #1,869,661 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ablegen vs ableiten

Shared letters: abeln. Private to "ablegen": g. Private to "ableiten": it.

"ablegen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "ableiten" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ablegenabblegen · abelgen · ableegn · ablegenn · ableggen · ablegne · ablgeen · abllegen
  • ableitenabbleiten · abeliten · ableietn · ableitenn · ableitne · ableitten · abletien · ablieten

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ablegen" for "ableiten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈapˌleːɡn̩] versus [ˈapˌlaɪ̯tn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "ablegen" or "ableiten" show up more?
"ablegen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,496 in our German list, against #13,299 for "ableiten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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 "ableiten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,869,661 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ablegen" and "ableiten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ablehnten vs ableiten". 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 #1,869,661 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