anzuhebenvsanzuhörenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#35,060
“anzuheben” frequency rank
#21,526
“anzuhören” frequency rank
56586
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature anzuheben anzuhören
Definition erweiterter Infinitiv Aktiv des Verbs anheben erweiterter Infinitiv Aktiv des Verbs anhören

Where the eye mixes anzuheben and anzuhören

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

9 ch
anzuheben
9 ch
anzuhören

Look-alike desk: anzuheben vs anzuhören

A purely visual mix-up. anzuheben ([ˈant͡suˌheːbn̩]) and anzuhören ([ˈant͡suˌhøːʁən]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56586, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

anzuheben is recorded at frequency rank #35,060, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈant͡suˌheːbn̩]. anzuhören is at rank #21,526, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈant͡suˌhøːʁən].

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 56586, this pair ranks #934,540 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of anzuheben vs anzuhören

Shared letters: aehnuz. Private to "anzuheben": b. Private to "anzuhören": rö.

"anzuheben" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC  ·  "anzuhören" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • anzuheben ← annzuheben · anuzheben · anzhueben · anzuehben · anzuhbeen · anzuhebben · anzuhebenn · anzuhebne

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "anzuheben" and "anzuhören" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈant͡suˌheːbn̩] versus [ˈant͡suˌhøːʁən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "anzuheben" or "anzuhören" show up more?
"anzuhören" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,526 in our German list, against #35,060 for "anzuheben". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "anzuheben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "anzuhören" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #934,540 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "anzuheben" and "anzuhören" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abzuheben vs anzuheben". 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 #934,540 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