Which to use
“anrufen” is a verb and “Anrufer” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,017
- “anrufen” frequency rank
- #14,496
- “Anrufer” frequency rank
- 18513
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | anrufen | Anrufer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | auf sich aufmerksam machen, indem man ruft; jemanden namentlich rufen | Person, welche aktiv mit einer anderen Person eine Sprechverbindung herstellt |
Where the eye mixes anrufen and Anrufer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. anrufen and Anrufer follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: anrufen vs Anrufer
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: anrufen is [ˈanˌʁuːfn̩] while Anrufer is [ˈanˌʁuːfɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “anrufen” becomes r in “Anrufer”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18513, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
anrufen is recorded at frequency rank #4,017, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈanˌʁuːfn̩]. Anrufer is at rank #14,496, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈanˌʁuːfɐ].
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 18513, this pair ranks #1,917,481 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of anrufen vs Anrufer
Shared letters: aefnru. Private to "anrufen": -. Private to "Anrufer": -.
"anrufen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC · "Anrufer" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "anrufen" for "Anrufer" ever safe?
Frequency check: "anrufen" vs "Anrufer" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "anrufen" and "Anrufer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "anrufen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Anrufer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,917,481 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "anrufen" and "Anrufer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "anrufen vs anrühren". 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 #1,917,481 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.