abwägenvsansagenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#25,872
“abwägen” frequency rank
#23,010
“ansagen” frequency rank
48882
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abwägen ansagen
Definition vergleichend prüfen den nächsten Künstler, Film oder Titel ankündigen

Where the eye mixes abwägen and ansagen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. abwägen and ansagen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
abwägen
7 ch
ansagen

Visual trap between abwägen and ansagen

A purely visual mix-up. abwägen ([ˈapˌvɛːɡn̩]) and ansagen ([ˈanˌzaːɡn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48882, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abwägen is recorded at frequency rank #25,872, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌvɛːɡn̩]. ansagen is at rank #23,010, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈanˌzaːɡn̩].

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 48882, this pair ranks #1,232,012 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of abwägen vs ansagen

Shared letters: aegn. Private to "abwägen": bwä. Private to "ansagen": s.

"abwägen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "ansagen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ansagen ← anasgen · annsagen · ansaegn · ansagenn · ansaggen · ansagne · ansgaen · anssagen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "abwägen" for "ansagen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈapˌvɛːɡn̩] versus [ˈanˌzaːɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "abwägen" vs "ansagen" - which ranks higher?
"ansagen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,010 in our German list, against #25,872 for "abwägen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "abwägen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ansagen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,232,012 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abwägen" and "ansagen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abtragen vs abwägen". 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 #1,232,012 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