ablegenvsabwägenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#9,496
“ablegen” frequency rank
#25,872
“abwägen” frequency rank
35368
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ablegen abwägen
Definition fortlegen, niederlegen, irgendwohin legen vergleichend prüfen

Where the eye mixes ablegen and abwägen

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

7 ch
ablegen
7 ch
abwägen

Visual trap between ablegen and abwägen

A purely visual mix-up. ablegen ([ˈapˌleːɡn̩]) and abwägen ([ˈapˌvɛːɡn̩]) 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 35368, 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]. abwägen is at rank #25,872, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌvɛːɡn̩].

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 35368, this pair ranks #1,641,675 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ablegen vs abwägen

Shared letters: abegn. Private to "ablegen": l. Private to "abwägen": wä.

"ablegen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "abwägen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ablegen ← abblegen · abelgen · ableegn · ablegenn · ableggen · ablegne · ablgeen · abllegen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ablegen" for "abwägen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈapˌleːɡn̩] versus [ˈapˌvɛːɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "ablegen" or "abwägen" show up more?
"ablegen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,496 in our German list, against #25,872 for "abwägen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ablegen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "abwägen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,641,675 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ablegen" and "abwägen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abtragen vs abwägen". 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 #1,641,675 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