Which to use
“abtreiben” and “antreiben” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,685
- “abtreiben” frequency rank
- #42,339
- “antreiben” frequency rank
- 86024
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | abtreiben | antreiben |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | etwas oder jemanden, welches oder welcher sich fliegend oder schwimmend bewegt, von einer Richtung ablenken | jemanden dazu motivieren, etwas zu tun |
Where the eye mixes abtreiben and antreiben
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. abtreiben and antreiben follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCCVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: abtreiben vs antreiben
A purely visual mix-up. abtreiben ([ˈapˌtʁaɪ̯bn̩]) and antreiben ([ˈanˌtʁaɪ̯bn̩]) 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 a single letter - b in “abtreiben” becomes n in “antreiben”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86024, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
abtreiben is recorded at frequency rank #43,685, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌtʁaɪ̯bn̩]. antreiben is at rank #42,339, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈanˌtʁaɪ̯bn̩].
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 86024, this pair ranks #99,735 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of abtreiben vs antreiben
Shared letters: abeinrt. Private to "abtreiben": -. Private to "antreiben": -.
"abtreiben" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVVCVC · "antreiben" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "abtreiben" for "antreiben" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "abtreiben" or "antreiben" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "abtreiben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "antreiben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #99,735 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "abtreiben" and "antreiben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abgreifen vs abtreiben". 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 #99,735 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.