anlassenvsanpassenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#46,468
“anlassen” frequency rank
#6,268
“anpassen” frequency rank
52736
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature anlassen anpassen
Definition etwas in Funktion setzen etwas passend machen, angleichen

Where the eye mixes anlassen and anpassen

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

8 ch
anlassen
8 ch
anpassen

Look-alike desk: anlassen vs anpassen

A purely visual mix-up. anlassen ([ˈanˌlasn̩]) and anpassen ([ˈanˌpasn̩]) 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 - l in “anlassen” becomes p in “anpassen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52736, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

anlassen is recorded at frequency rank #46,468, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈanˌlasn̩]. anpassen is at rank #6,268, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈanˌpasn̩].

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 52736, this pair ranks #1,085,245 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of anlassen vs anpassen

Shared letters: aens. Private to "anlassen": l. Private to "anpassen": p.

"anlassen" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC  ·  "anpassen" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • anlassen ← alnassen · analssen · anlasen · anlasesn · anlassenn · anlassne · anlaßen · anllassen
  • anpassen ← anapssen · annpassen · anpasen · anpasesn · anpassenn · anpassne · anpaßen · anppassen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "anlassen" and "anpassen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈanˌlasn̩] versus [ˈanˌpasn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "anlassen" vs "anpassen" - which ranks higher?
"anpassen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,268 in our German list, against #46,468 for "anlassen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "anlassen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "anpassen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,085,245 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "anlassen" and "anpassen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ablassen vs anlassen". 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 #1,085,245 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