abzunehmenvsanzunehmenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#17,793
“abzunehmen” frequency rank
#6,149
“anzunehmen” frequency rank
23942
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abzunehmen anzunehmen
Definition erweiterter Infinitiv Aktiv des Verbs abnehmen erweiterter Infinitiv Aktiv des Verbs annehmen

Where the eye mixes abzunehmen and anzunehmen

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

10 ch
abzunehmen
10 ch
anzunehmen

Look-alike desk: abzunehmen vs anzunehmen

A purely visual mix-up. abzunehmen ([ˈapt͡suˌneːmən]) and anzunehmen ([ˈant͡suˌneːmən]) 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 a single letter - b in “abzunehmen” becomes n in “anzunehmen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23942, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abzunehmen is recorded at frequency rank #17,793, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈapt͡suˌneːmən]. anzunehmen is at rank #6,149, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈant͡suˌneːmən].

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 23942, this pair ranks #1,854,489 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of abzunehmen vs anzunehmen

Shared letters: aehmnuz. Private to "abzunehmen": b. Private to "anzunehmen": -.

"abzunehmen" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCCVC  ·  "anzunehmen" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abzunehmenabbzunehmen · abuznehmen · abznuehmen · abzuenhmen · abzunehemn · abzunehhmen · abzunehmenn · abzunehmmen
  • anzunehmenannzunehmen · anuznehmen · anznuehmen · anzuenhmen · anzunehemn · anzunehhmen · anzunehmenn · anzunehmmen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "abzunehmen" and "anzunehmen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈapt͡suˌneːmən] versus [ˈant͡suˌneːmən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "abzunehmen" vs "anzunehmen" - which ranks higher?
"anzunehmen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,149 in our German list, against #17,793 for "abzunehmen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "abzunehmen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "anzunehmen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,854,489 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abzunehmen" and "anzunehmen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abzunehmen vs abzuwehren". 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 #1,854,489 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