AnzeichenvsanziehenTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#6,270
“Anzeichen” frequency rank
#5,139
“anziehen” frequency rank
11409
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Anzeichen anziehen
Definition etwas Beobachtetes, das auf etwas anderes schließen lässt ein bestimmtes Kleidungsstück anlegen

Where the eye mixes Anzeichen and anziehen

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

9 ch
Anzeichen
8 ch
anziehen

Visual trap between Anzeichen and anziehen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Anzeichen is [ˈanˌt͡saɪ̯çn̩] while anziehen is [ˈanˌt͡siːən]. 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 11409, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Anzeichen is recorded at frequency rank #6,270, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈanˌt͡saɪ̯çn̩]. anziehen is at rank #5,139, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈanˌt͡siːən].

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 11409, this pair ranks #1,970,010 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Anzeichen vs anziehen

Shared letters: aehinz. Private to "Anzeichen": c. Private to "anziehen": -.

"Anzeichen" · 9 letters · shape VCCVVCCVC  ·  "anziehen" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Anzeichen ← anezichen · annzeichen · anzecihen · anzeicchen · anzeicehn · anzeichenn · anzeichhen · anzeichne
  • anziehen ← anizehen · annziehen · anzeihen · anzieehn · anziehenn · anziehhen · anziehne · anziheen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Anzeichen" for "anziehen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Anzeichen" is a noun and "anziehen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Anzeichen" or "anziehen"?
"anziehen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,139 in our German list, against #6,270 for "Anzeichen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "Anzeichen" and "anziehen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Anzeichen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "anziehen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,970,010 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Anzeichen" and "anziehen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "andrehen vs anziehen". 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 #1,970,010 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