angebenvsangeborenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#6,142
“angeben” frequency rank
#42,331
“angeboren” frequency rank
48473
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature angeben angeboren
Definition Mitteilung machen: hinweisen, mitteilen, behaupten schon bei Geburt vorhanden

Where the eye mixes angeben and angeboren

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

7 ch
angeben
9 ch
angeboren

Visual trap between angeben and angeboren

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: angeben is [ˈanˌɡeːbn̩] while angeboren is [ˈanɡəˌboːʁən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 48473, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

angeben is recorded at frequency rank #6,142, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈanˌɡeːbn̩]. angeboren is at rank #42,331, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈanɡəˌboːʁən].

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 48473, this pair ranks #1,247,325 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of angeben vs angeboren

Shared letters: abegn. Private to "angeben": -. Private to "angeboren": or.

"angeben" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "angeboren" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • angeben ← agneben · anegben · angbeen · angebben · angebenn · angebne · angeebn · anggeben
  • angeboren ← agneboren · anegboren · angbeoren · angebboren · angeboern · angeborenn · angeborne · angeborren

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "angeben" and "angeboren" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "angeben" is a verb and "angeboren" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "angeben" or "angeboren" show up more?
"angeben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,142 in our German list, against #42,331 for "angeboren". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "angeben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "angeboren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,247,325 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "angeben" and "angeboren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "angeboren vs Angebotes". 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 #1,247,325 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