absehenvsabzusehenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#26,726
“absehen” frequency rank
#16,076
“abzusehen” frequency rank
42802
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature absehen abzusehen
Definition (zukünftige Ereignisse) voraussehen erweiterter Infinitiv Aktiv des Verbs absehen

Where the eye mixes absehen and abzusehen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
absehen
9 ch
abzusehen

Why the eye confuses absehen with abzusehen

A purely visual mix-up. absehen ([ˈapˌz̥eːən]) and abzusehen ([ˈapt͡suˌzeːən]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42802, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

absehen is recorded at frequency rank #26,726, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌz̥eːən]. abzusehen is at rank #16,076, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈapt͡suˌzeːən].

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 42802, this pair ranks #1,438,002 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of absehen vs abzusehen

Shared letters: abehns. Private to "absehen": -. Private to "abzusehen": uz.

"absehen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "abzusehen" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • absehenabbsehen · abeshen · abseehn · absehenn · absehhen · absehne · absheen · abssehen
  • abzusehenabbzusehen · abuzsehen · abzsuehen · abzueshen · abzuseehn · abzusehenn · abzusehhen · abzusehne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "absehen" for "abzusehen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈapˌz̥eːən] versus [ˈapt͡suˌzeːən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "absehen" vs "abzusehen" - which ranks higher?
"abzusehen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,076 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "absehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "abzusehen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,438,002 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "absehen" and "abzusehen" 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 #1,438,002 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