abziehenvsanziehendTell them apart

Quick tell: abziehen is a verb, anziehend is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“abziehen” is a verb and “anziehend” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,990
“abziehen” frequency rank
#29,928
“anziehend” frequency rank
40918
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abziehen anziehend
Definition sich entfernen hübsch, reizvoll

Where the eye mixes abziehen and anziehend

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. abziehen runs 8 letters (VCCVVCVC) against anziehend's 9 (VCCVVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
abziehen
9 ch
anziehend

Why the eye confuses abziehen with anziehend

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: abziehen is [ˈapˌt͡siːən] while anziehend is [ˈanˌt͡siːənt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40918, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abziehen is recorded at frequency rank #10,990, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌt͡siːən]. anziehend is at rank #29,928, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈanˌt͡siːənt].

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 40918, this pair ranks #1,494,575 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of abziehen vs anziehend

Shared letters: aehinz. Private to "abziehen": b. Private to "anziehend": d.

"abziehen" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCVC  ·  "anziehend" · 9 letters · shape VCCVVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abziehen ← abbziehen · abizehen · abzeihen · abzieehn · abziehenn · abziehhen · abziehne · abziheen
  • anziehend ← anizehend · annziehend · anzeihend · anzieehnd · anziehedn · anziehendd · anziehennd · anziehhend

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "abziehen" for "anziehend" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "abziehen" is a verb and "anziehend" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "abziehen" vs "anziehend" - which ranks higher?
"abziehen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,990 in our German list, against #29,928 for "anziehend". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "abziehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "anziehend" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,494,575 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abziehen" and "anziehend" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "anziehend vs Anziehung". 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 #1,494,575 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