ankamenvsansagenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#23,415
“ankamen” frequency rank
#23,010
“ansagen” frequency rank
46425
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ankamen ansagen
Definition 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv der Nebensatzkonjugation des Verbs ankommen den nächsten Künstler, Film oder Titel ankündigen

Where the eye mixes ankamen and ansagen

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

7 ch
ankamen
7 ch
ansagen

Visual trap between ankamen and ansagen

A purely visual mix-up. ankamen ([ˈanˌkaːmən]) and ansagen ([ˈanˌzaːɡn̩]) 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 46425, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ankamen is recorded at frequency rank #23,415, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈanˌkaːmən]. ansagen is at rank #23,010, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈanˌzaːɡn̩].

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 46425, this pair ranks #1,319,530 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ankamen vs ansagen

Shared letters: aen. Private to "ankamen": km. Private to "ansagen": gs.

"ankamen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "ansagen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ankamen ← aknamen · anakmen · ankaemn · ankamenn · ankammen · ankamne · ankkamen · ankmaen
  • ansagen ← anasgen · annsagen · ansaegn · ansagenn · ansaggen · ansagne · ansgaen · anssagen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ankamen" and "ansagen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈanˌkaːmən] versus [ˈanˌzaːɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ankamen" or "ansagen"?
"ansagen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,010 in our German list, against #23,415 for "ankamen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "ankamen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ansagen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,319,530 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ankamen" and "ansagen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "absaugen vs ansagen". 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 #1,319,530 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