Abnahme vs abnehmen, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“Abnahme” is a noun and “abnehmen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13,084
“Abnahme” frequency rank: #4,758
“abnehmen” frequency rank: 17842
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Abnahme	abnehmen
Definition	Veränderung, bei der etwas weniger/geringer/niedriger wird	von einer Stelle entfernen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Abnahme and abnehmen apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

Abnahme

8 ch

abnehmen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Abnahme is [ˈapˌnaːmə] while abnehmen is [ˈapˌneːmən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17842, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Abnahme is recorded at frequency rank #13,084, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈapˌnaːmə]. abnehmen is at rank #4,758, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌneːmən].

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 17842, this pair ranks #1,923,764 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Abnahme vs abnehmen

Shared letters: abehmn. Private to "Abnahme": -. Private to "abnehmen": -.

"Abnahme" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV · "abnehmen" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

Abnahme ← abanhme · abbnahme · abnahem · abnahhme · abnahmme · abnamhe · abnhame · abnnahme
abnehmen ← abbnehmen · abenhmen · abnehemn · abnehhmen · abnehmenn · abnehmmen · abnehmne · abnemhen

Frequency comparison

Abnahme#13,084

abnehmen#4,758

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Abnahme" and "abnehmen" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Abnahme" is a noun and "abnehmen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "Abnahme" or "abnehmen"?

"abnehmen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,758 in our German list, against #13,084 for "Abnahme". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Abnahme vs abnehmen

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Abnahme”; for a verb, it's “abnehmen”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Abnahme” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable