abwendenvsAnwenderTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#18,145
“abwenden” frequency rank
#18,471
“Anwender” frequency rank
36616
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abwenden Anwender
Definition (sich) zur Seite wegdrehen; sich von jemandem zurückziehen jemand, der etwas nutzt (oder anwendet)

Where the eye mixes abwenden and Anwender

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. abwenden and Anwender follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
abwenden
8 ch
Anwender

Why the eye confuses abwenden with Anwender

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: abwenden is [ˈapˌvɛndn̩] while Anwender is [ˈanˌvɛndɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 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 36616, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abwenden is recorded at frequency rank #18,145, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌvɛndn̩]. Anwender is at rank #18,471, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈanˌvɛndɐ].

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 36616, this pair ranks #1,611,019 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of abwenden vs Anwender

Shared letters: adenw. Private to "abwenden": b. Private to "Anwender": r.

"abwenden" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC  ·  "Anwender" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abwenden ← abbwenden · abewnden · abwednen · abwendden · abwendenn · abwendne · abwenedn · abwennden
  • Anwender ← anewnder · annwender · anwedner · anwendder · anwenderr · anwendre · anwenedr · anwennder

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "abwenden" and "Anwender" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "abwenden" is a verb and "Anwender" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "abwenden" or "Anwender"?
"abwenden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,145 in our German list, against #18,471 for "Anwender". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "abwenden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Anwender" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,611,019 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abwenden" and "Anwender" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abwenden vs Abwendung". 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 #1,611,019 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