angehenvsanhebenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#6,757
“angehen” frequency rank
#18,469
“anheben” frequency rank
25226
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature angehen anheben
Definition ein Gerät zum Laufen bringen, einschalten ein wenig in die Höhe heben

Where the eye mixes angehen and anheben

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. angehen and anheben follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
angehen
7 ch
anheben

Visual trap between angehen and anheben

A purely visual mix-up. angehen ([ˈanˌɡeːən]) and anheben ([ˈanˌheːbn̩]) 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 25226, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

angehen is recorded at frequency rank #6,757, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈanˌɡeːən]. anheben is at rank #18,469, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈanˌheːbn̩].

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 25226, this pair ranks #1,836,335 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of angehen vs anheben

Shared letters: aehn. Private to "angehen": g. Private to "anheben": b.

"angehen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "anheben" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • angehen ← agnehen · aneghen · angeehn · angehenn · angehhen · angehne · anggehen · angheen
  • anheben ← ahneben · anehben · anhbeen · anhebben · anhebenn · anhebne · anheebn · anhheben

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "angehen" for "anheben" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈanˌɡeːən] versus [ˈanˌheːbn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "angehen" vs "anheben" - which ranks higher?
"angehen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,757 in our German list, against #18,469 for "anheben". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "angehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "anheben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,836,335 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "angehen" and "anheben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "anheben vs anheizen". 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 #1,836,335 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