ablesenvsabsehenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#14,225
“ablesen” frequency rank
#26,726
“absehen” frequency rank
40951
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ablesen absehen
Definition einen Wert festhalten (zukünftige Ereignisse) voraussehen

Where the eye mixes ablesen and absehen

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

7 ch
ablesen
7 ch
absehen

Look-alike desk: ablesen vs absehen

A purely visual mix-up. ablesen ([ˈapˌleːzn̩]) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40951, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ablesen is recorded at frequency rank #14,225, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌleːzn̩]. 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 40951, this pair ranks #1,493,616 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ablesen vs absehen

Shared letters: abens. Private to "ablesen": l. Private to "absehen": h.

"ablesen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "absehen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ablesen ← abblesen · abelsen · ableesn · ablesenn · ablesne · ablessen · abllesen · ablseen
  • absehen ← abbsehen · abeshen · abseehn · absehenn · absehhen · absehne · absheen · abssehen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ablesen" for "absehen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈapˌleːzn̩] versus [ˈapˌz̥eːən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ablesen" vs "absehen" - which ranks higher?
"ablesen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,225 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.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ablesen" 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 #1,493,616 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ablesen" 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 #1,493,616 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