abzulesenvsanzulegenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#42,989
“abzulesen” frequency rank
#12,655
“anzulegen” frequency rank
55644
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abzulesen anzulegen
Definition erweiterter Infinitiv Aktiv des Verbs ablesen erweiterter Infinitiv Aktiv des Verbs anlegen

Where the eye mixes abzulesen and anzulegen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

9 ch
abzulesen
9 ch
anzulegen

Visual trap between abzulesen and anzulegen

A purely visual mix-up. abzulesen ([ˈapt͡suˌleːzn̩]) and anzulegen ([ˈant͡suˌleːɡn̩]) 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 55644, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abzulesen is recorded at frequency rank #42,989, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈapt͡suˌleːzn̩]. anzulegen is at rank #12,655, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈant͡suˌleːɡn̩].

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 55644, this pair ranks #971,555 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of abzulesen vs anzulegen

Shared letters: aelnuz. Private to "abzulesen": bs. Private to "anzulegen": g.

"abzulesen" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC  ·  "anzulegen" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abzulesenabbzulesen · abuzlesen · abzluesen · abzuelsen · abzuleesn · abzulesenn · abzulesne · abzulessen
  • anzulegenannzulegen · anuzlegen · anzluegen · anzuelgen · anzuleegn · anzulegenn · anzuleggen · anzulegne

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "abzulesen" and "anzulegen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈapt͡suˌleːzn̩] versus [ˈant͡suˌleːɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "abzulesen" vs "anzulegen" - which ranks higher?
"anzulegen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,655 in our German list, against #42,989 for "abzulesen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "abzulesen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "anzulegen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #971,555 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abzulesen" and "anzulegen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abzulesen vs abzuweisen". 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 #971,555 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