Which to use
“abwehren” and “abwerfen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,288
- “abwehren” frequency rank
- #27,175
- “abwerfen” frequency rank
- 53463
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | abwehren | abwerfen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | etwas oder jemanden zurückschlagen, um auf einen Angriff zu reagieren | hinunter werfen, sich einer Sache entledigen |
Where the eye mixes abwehren and abwerfen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. abwehren and abwerfen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: abwehren vs abwerfen
A purely visual mix-up. abwehren ([ˈapˌveːʁən]) and abwerfen ([ˈapˌvɛʁfn̩]) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53463, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
abwehren is recorded at frequency rank #26,288, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌveːʁən]. abwerfen is at rank #27,175, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌvɛʁfn̩].
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 53463, this pair ranks #1,056,998 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of abwehren vs abwerfen
Shared letters: abenrw. Private to "abwehren": h. Private to "abwerfen": f.
"abwehren" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC · "abwerfen" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "abwehren" and "abwerfen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "abwehren" or "abwerfen"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "abwehren" and "abwerfen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "abwehren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "abwerfen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,056,998 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "abwehren" and "abwerfen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abwerfen vs anwerben". 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 #1,056,998 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.