ablehnenvsabsehenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#7,856
“ablehnen” frequency rank
#26,726
“absehen” frequency rank
34582
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ablehnen absehen
Definition zu etwas nein sagen; etwas zurückweisen oder missbilligen (zukünftige Ereignisse) voraussehen

Where the eye mixes ablehnen and absehen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. ablehnen runs 8 letters (VCCVCCVC) against absehen's 7 (VCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
ablehnen
7 ch
absehen

Visual trap between ablehnen and absehen

A purely visual mix-up. ablehnen ([ˈapˌleːnən]) and absehen ([ˈapˌz̥eːən]) 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 34582, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ablehnen is recorded at frequency rank #7,856, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌleːnən]. absehen is at rank #26,726, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌz̥eːən].

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 34582, this pair ranks #1,659,975 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ablehnen vs absehen

Shared letters: abehn. Private to "ablehnen": l. Private to "absehen": s.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ablehnen ← abblehnen · abelhnen · ablehenn · ablehhnen · ablehnenn · ablehnne · ablehnnen · ablenhen
  • absehen ← abbsehen · abeshen · abseehn · absehenn · absehhen · absehne · absheen · abssehen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ablehnen" for "absehen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈapˌleːnən] versus [ˈapˌz̥eːən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ablehnen" vs "absehen" - which ranks higher?
"ablehnen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,856 in our German list, against #26,726 for "absehen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "ablehnen" and "absehen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ablehnen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "absehen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,659,975 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ablehnen" and "absehen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abdrehen vs absehen". 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 #1,659,975 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