abe

[ˈɛːb̥ə]

/[ˈɛːb̥ə]/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“abe” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #14,223) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#14,223
frequency rank, German
6,976
“A” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Affe

Corpus desk

Index DE-abe · abe · German

abe · rank #14,223 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #14,223
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,976
  • PHOTO-FINISH abbiegen

Nearest frequency peer: abbiegen (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Häufigkeitsnachbarn des Verwechslers „abe“

Peers mit ähnlichem Corpus-Gewicht, getrennt von den Verwechslungspaaren unten

corpus weight

What this shows Balken platzieren „abe“ gegen die nächsten gerankten deutschen Lemmata, kein Reprint der Verwechslungsdesk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

abe vs an
33% similar
abe vs am
33% similar
abe vs AG
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for abe
PropertyValue
Headwordabe
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ˈɛːb̥ə]
Letters3
Frequency rank#14,223
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus-Rang neben Verwechslern von „abe“

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.abeliegt auf dieser Marke:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „abbiegen“ (#14,222), „Abhilfe“ (#14,224), „Überlebende“ (#14,221). Unter 6,976 „A“-Lemmata liegt „abe“ bei #14,223. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for abe is neighbouring look-alikes ("an", "am", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced [ˈɛːb̥ə]. Frequency #14,223 among 6,976 “A” headwords. 3 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for abe, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "an", "am", "AG", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct German form is abe, spelled A-B-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Affe
  2. 2
    dumme Person; Affe
  3. 3
    Schuld, Verantwortung

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "abe"?
"abe" is spelled A-B-E. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈɛːb̥ə].
What does "abe" mean?
As a noun, "abe" means: Affe
What words are commonly confused with "abe"?
"abe" is commonly confused with "an", "am", "AG". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "abe"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "abe" is [ˈɛːb̥ə]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "abe" come from?
"abe" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "abe", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Bub#14,259chi#14,264Fed#14,285IWF#14,333

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list