abtunvsÄstenTell them apart

Quick tell: abtun is a verb, Ästen is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#46,447
“abtun” frequency rank
#28,964
“Ästen” frequency rank
75411
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abtun Ästen
Definition ein Kleidungsstück absetzen, ablegen Dativ Plural des Substantivs Ast

Where the eye mixes abtun and Ästen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. abtun and Ästen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
abtun
5 ch
Ästen

Look-alike desk: abtun vs Ästen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: abtun is [ˈapˌtuːn] while Ästen is [ˈɛstn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75411, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abtun is recorded at frequency rank #46,447, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌtuːn]. Ästen is at rank #28,964, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈɛstn̩].

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 75411, this pair ranks #308,640 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of abtun vs Ästen

Shared letters: nt. Private to "abtun": abu. Private to "Ästen": esä.

"abtun" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "Ästen" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abtun ← abbtun · abtnu · abttun · abtunn · abutn · atbun · batun

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "abtun" and "Ästen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "abtun" is a verb and "Ästen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "abtun" or "Ästen" show up more?
"Ästen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,964 in our German list, against #46,447 for "abtun". 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 "abtun" and "Ästen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "abtun" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Ästen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #308,640 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abtun" and "Ästen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Abtes vs abtun". 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 #308,640 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