abweichenvsabweichendWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#13,757
“abweichen” frequency rank
#18,791
“abweichend” frequency rank
32548
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abweichen abweichend
Definition sich von einer Norm oder Regularität unterscheiden Partizip Präsens des Verbs abweichen

Where the eye mixes abweichen and abweichend

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.

9 ch
abweichen
10 ch
abweichend

Why the eye confuses abweichen with abweichend

A purely visual mix-up. abweichen ([ˈapˌvaɪ̯çn̩]) and abweichend ([ˈapˌvaɪ̯çn̩t]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “abweichen” sits inside “abweichend”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32548, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abweichen is recorded at frequency rank #13,757, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌvaɪ̯çn̩]. abweichend is at rank #18,791, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌvaɪ̯çn̩t].

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 32548, this pair ranks #1,705,314 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of abweichen vs abweichend

Shared letters: abcehinw. Private to "abweichen": -. Private to "abweichend": d.

"abweichen" · 9 letters · shape VCCVVCCVC  ·  "abweichend" · 10 letters · shape VCCVVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abweichenabbweichen · abewichen · abwecihen · abweicchen · abweicehn · abweichenn · abweichhen · abweichne
  • abweichendabbweichend · abewichend · abwecihend · abweicchend · abweicehnd · abweichedn · abweichendd · abweichennd

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "abweichen" for "abweichend" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈapˌvaɪ̯çn̩] versus [ˈapˌvaɪ̯çn̩t]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "abweichen" vs "abweichend" - which ranks higher?
"abweichen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,757 in our German list, against #18,791 for "abweichend". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "abweichen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "abweichend" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,705,314 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abweichen" and "abweichend" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abweichend vs abweisend". 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 #1,705,314 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