angehenvsansehenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,757
“angehen” frequency rank
#1,758
“ansehen” frequency rank
8515
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature angehen ansehen
Definition ein Gerät zum Laufen bringen, einschalten den Blick bewusst auf etwas oder jemanden richten

Where the eye mixes angehen and ansehen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
angehen
7 ch
ansehen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. angehen ([ˈanˌɡeːən]) and ansehen ([ˈanˌzeːən]) 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 - g in “angehen” becomes s in “ansehen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8515, 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]. ansehen is at rank #1,758, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈanˌzeːən].

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 8515, this pair ranks #1,983,977 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of angehen vs ansehen

Shared letters: aehn. Private to "angehen": g. Private to "ansehen": s.

"angehen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "ansehen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • angehenagnehen · aneghen · angeehn · angehenn · angehhen · angehne · anggehen · angheen
  • ansehenaneshen · annsehen · anseehn · ansehenn · ansehhen · ansehne · ansheen · anssehen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "angehen" and "ansehen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈanˌɡeːən] versus [ˈanˌzeːən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "angehen" or "ansehen"?
"ansehen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,758 in our German list, against #6,757 for "angehen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "angehen" and "ansehen". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "angehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ansehen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,983,977 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "angehen" and "ansehen" 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list