Which to use
“angehen” and “anlegen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,757
- “angehen” frequency rank
- #5,453
- “anlegen” frequency rank
- 12210
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | angehen | anlegen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ein Gerät zum Laufen bringen, einschalten | etwas erschaffen oder erstellen |
Where the eye mixes angehen and anlegen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. angehen and anlegen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between angehen and anlegen
A purely visual mix-up. angehen ([ˈanˌɡeːən]) 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 12210, 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]. 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 12210, this pair ranks #1,965,541 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of angehen vs anlegen
Shared letters: aegn. Private to "angehen": h. Private to "anlegen": l.
"angehen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC · "anlegen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "angehen" and "anlegen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "angehen" or "anlegen" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "angehen" 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 #1,965,541 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "angehen" and "anlegen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Angeber vs angehen". 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 #1,965,541 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.