angebenvsanlegenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,142
“angeben” frequency rank
#5,453
“anlegen” frequency rank
11595
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature angeben anlegen
Definition Mitteilung machen: hinweisen, mitteilen, behaupten etwas erschaffen oder erstellen

Where the eye mixes angeben and anlegen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
angeben
7 ch
anlegen

Why the eye confuses angeben with anlegen

A purely visual mix-up. angeben ([ˈanˌɡeːbn̩]) and anlegen ([ˈanˌleːɡn̩]) 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 11595, 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]. anlegen is at rank #5,453, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈanˌleːɡn̩].

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 11595, this pair ranks #1,969,005 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of angeben vs anlegen

Shared letters: aegn. Private to "angeben": b. Private to "anlegen": l.

"angeben" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "anlegen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • angebenagneben · anegben · angbeen · angebben · angebenn · angebne · angeebn · anggeben
  • anlegenalnegen · anelgen · anleegn · anlegenn · anleggen · anlegne · anlgeen · anllegen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "angeben" and "anlegen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈanˌɡeːbn̩] versus [ˈanˌleːɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "angeben" or "anlegen"?
"anlegen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,453 in our German list, against #6,142 for "angeben". 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 "angeben" and "anlegen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "angeben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "anlegen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,969,005 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "angeben" and "anlegen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "anlegen vs Anlieger". 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 #1,969,005 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