Which to use
“abschrecken” is a verb and “abschreckend” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,484
- “abschrecken” frequency rank
- #35,034
- “abschreckend” frequency rank
- 55518
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | abschrecken | abschreckend |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Angst oder Zweifel erzeugen und jemanden damit fernhalten | etwas, das jemanden (oder etwas) fern halten soll, indem es erschreckend wirkt |
Where the eye mixes abschrecken and abschreckend
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence. abschrecken runs 11 letters (VCCCCCVCCVC) against abschreckend's 12 (VCCCCCVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between abschrecken and abschreckend
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: abschrecken is [ˈapˌʃʁɛkn̩] while abschreckend is [ˈapˌʃʁɛkn̩t]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “abschrecken” sits inside “abschreckend”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55518, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
abschrecken is recorded at frequency rank #20,484, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌʃʁɛkn̩]. abschreckend is at rank #35,034, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈapˌʃʁɛkn̩t].
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 55518, this pair ranks #976,451 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of abschrecken vs abschreckend
Shared letters: abcehknrs. Private to "abschrecken": -. Private to "abschreckend": d.
"abschrecken" · 11 letters · shape VCCCCCVCCVC · "abschreckend" · 12 letters · shape VCCCCCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- abschrecken ← abbschrecken · abcshrecken · abscchrecken · abschercken · abschhrecken · abschrceken · abschreccken · abschrecekn
- abschreckend ← abbschreckend · abcshreckend · abscchreckend · abscherckend · abschhreckend · abschrcekend · abschrecckend · abschreceknd
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "abschrecken" and "abschreckend" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "abschrecken" or "abschreckend" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "abschrecken" and "abschreckend" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "abschrecken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "abschreckend" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #976,451 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "abschrecken" and "abschreckend" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abschreckend vs Abschreckung". 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 #976,451 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.