AnteilenvsantreibenTell them apart

Quick tell: Anteilen is a noun, antreiben is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Anteilen” is a noun and “antreiben” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#22,622
“Anteilen” frequency rank
#42,339
“antreiben” frequency rank
64961
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Anteilen antreiben
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Anteil jemanden dazu motivieren, etwas zu tun

Where the eye mixes Anteilen and antreiben

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. Anteilen runs 8 letters (VCCVVCVC) against antreiben's 9 (VCCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
Anteilen
9 ch
antreiben

Why the eye confuses Anteilen with antreiben

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Anteilen is [ˈantaɪ̯lən] while antreiben is [ˈanˌtʁaɪ̯bn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64961, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Anteilen is recorded at frequency rank #22,622, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈantaɪ̯lən]. antreiben is at rank #42,339, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈanˌtʁaɪ̯bn̩].

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 64961, this pair ranks #623,313 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Anteilen vs antreiben

Shared letters: aeint. Private to "Anteilen": l. Private to "antreiben": br.

"Anteilen" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCVC  ·  "antreiben" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Anteilenanetilen · annteilen · anteieln · anteilenn · anteillen · anteilne · antelien · antielen
  • antreibenanntreiben · anrteiben · anteriben · antrebien · antreibben · antreibenn · antreibne · antreiebn

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Anteilen" and "antreiben" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Anteilen" is a noun and "antreiben" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Anteilen" or "antreiben" show up more?
"Anteilen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,622 in our German list, against #42,339 for "antreiben". 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 "Anteilen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "antreiben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #623,313 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Anteilen" and "antreiben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "antreiben vs austreiben". 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 #623,313 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