AbleitungvsAbweisungTell them apart

Which to use

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

#20,482
“Ableitung” frequency rank
#49,444
“Abweisung” frequency rank
69926
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ableitung Abweisung
Definition (Prozess und Ergebnis der) Bildung neuer Wörter mit Hilfe grammatischer Morpheme (mit Ausnahme der Flexionsmorpheme) Nichtannahme oder Nichtstattgabe eines Anliegens oder Antrages

Where the eye mixes Ableitung and Abweisung

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. Ableitung and Abweisung follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVVCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
Ableitung
9 ch
Abweisung

Visual trap between Ableitung and Abweisung

A purely visual mix-up. Ableitung ([ˈapˌlaɪ̯tʊŋ]) and Abweisung ([ˈapˌvaɪ̯zʊŋ]) 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 69926, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ableitung is recorded at frequency rank #20,482, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈapˌlaɪ̯tʊŋ]. Abweisung is at rank #49,444, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈapˌvaɪ̯zʊŋ].

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 69926, this pair ranks #461,767 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Ableitung vs Abweisung

Shared letters: abeginu. Private to "Ableitung": lt. Private to "Abweisung": sw.

"Ableitung" · 9 letters · shape VCCVVCVCC  ·  "Abweisung" · 9 letters · shape VCCVVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Ableitung ← abbleitung · abelitung · ableitnug · ableittung · ableitugn · ableitungg · ableitunng · ableiutng
  • Abweisung ← abbweisung · abewisung · abweisnug · abweissung · abweisugn · abweisungg · abweisunng · abweiusng

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Ableitung" for "Abweisung" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈapˌlaɪ̯tʊŋ] versus [ˈapˌvaɪ̯zʊŋ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Ableitung" or "Abweisung" show up more?
"Ableitung" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,482 in our German list, against #49,444 for "Abweisung". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Ableitung" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Abweisung" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #461,767 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ableitung" and "Abweisung" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Abweisung vs Abwendung". 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 #461,767 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