antretenvsanzutretenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#5,907
“antreten” frequency rank
#18,472
“anzutreten” frequency rank
24379
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature antreten anzutreten
Definition etwas beginnen erweiterter Infinitiv Aktiv des Verbs antreten

Where the eye mixes antreten and anzutreten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

8 ch
antreten
10 ch
anzutreten

Look-alike desk: antreten vs anzutreten

A purely visual mix-up. antreten ([ˈanˌtʁeːtn̩]) and anzutreten ([ˈant͡suˌtʁeːtn̩]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24379, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

antreten is recorded at frequency rank #5,907, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈanˌtʁeːtn̩]. anzutreten is at rank #18,472, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈant͡suˌtʁeːtn̩].

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 24379, this pair ranks #1,848,491 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of antreten vs anzutreten

Shared letters: aenrt. Private to "antreten": -. Private to "anzutreten": uz.

"antreten" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC  ·  "anzutreten" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • antretenanntreten · anrteten · anterten · antreetn · antretenn · antretne · antretten · antrreten
  • anzutretenannzutreten · anuztreten · anztureten · anzurteten · anzuterten · anzutreetn · anzutretenn · anzutretne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "antreten" for "anzutreten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈanˌtʁeːtn̩] versus [ˈant͡suˌtʁeːtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "antreten" vs "anzutreten" - which ranks higher?
"antreten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,907 in our German list, against #18,472 for "anzutreten". 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 "antreten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "anzutreten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,848,491 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "antreten" and "anzutreten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "andrehen vs antreten". 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 #1,848,491 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