angehörenvsanzuhörenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#9,137
“angehören” frequency rank
#21,526
“anzuhören” frequency rank
30663
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature angehören anzuhören
Definition Teil einer Gruppe, eines Gremiums, einer Organisation, eines Gebiets oder Ähnlichem sein erweiterter Infinitiv Aktiv des Verbs anhören

Where the eye mixes angehören and anzuhören

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. angehören and anzuhören follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
angehören
9 ch
anzuhören

Why the eye confuses angehören with anzuhören

A purely visual mix-up. angehören ([ˈanɡəˌhøːʁən]) and anzuhören ([ˈant͡suˌhøːʁən]) 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 30663, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

angehören is recorded at frequency rank #9,137, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈanɡəˌhøːʁən]. anzuhören is at rank #21,526, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈant͡suˌhøːʁən].

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 30663, this pair ranks #1,743,489 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of angehören vs anzuhören

Shared letters: aehnrö. Private to "angehören": g. Private to "anzuhören": uz.

"angehören" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC  ·  "anzuhören" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "angehören" and "anzuhören" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈanɡəˌhøːʁən] versus [ˈant͡suˌhøːʁən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "angehören" or "anzuhören" show up more?
"angehören" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,137 in our German list, against #21,526 for "anzuhören". 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 "angehören" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "anzuhören" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,743,489 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "angehören" and "anzuhören" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "anrühren vs anzuhören". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,743,489 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