anguckenvsanlockenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,999
“angucken” frequency rank
#32,904
“anlocken” frequency rank
43903
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature angucken anlocken
Definition den Blick bewusst auf etwas oder jemanden richten Interesse erwecken

Where the eye mixes angucken and anlocken

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. angucken and anlocken follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
angucken
8 ch
anlocken

Why the eye confuses angucken with anlocken

A purely visual mix-up. angucken ([ˈanˌɡʊkn̩]) and anlocken ([ˈanˌlɔkn̩]) 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 43903, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

angucken is recorded at frequency rank #10,999, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈanˌɡʊkn̩]. anlocken is at rank #32,904, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈanˌlɔkn̩].

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 43903, this pair ranks #1,403,329 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of angucken vs anlocken

Shared letters: acekn. Private to "angucken": gu. Private to "anlocken": lo.

"angucken" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC  ·  "anlocken" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • angucken ← agnucken · angcuken · anggucken · anguccken · angucekn · anguckenn · anguckken · anguckne
  • anlocken ← alnocken · anlcoken · anllocken · anloccken · anlocekn · anlockenn · anlockken · anlockne

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "angucken" and "anlocken" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈanˌɡʊkn̩] versus [ˈanˌlɔkn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "angucken" or "anlocken"?
"angucken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,999 in our German list, against #32,904 for "anlocken". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "angucken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "anlocken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,403,329 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "angucken" and "anlocken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "anlocken vs anzulocken". 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 #1,403,329 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