about

[əˈbaʊt]

/[əˈbaʊt]/ adv

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

The verdict

“about” has 6 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #7,001. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#7,001
frequency rank, German
6,976
“A” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
19
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - an, etwa, gut, rund, ungefähr, zirka

Corpus desk

Index DE-about · about · German

about · rank #7,001 · 6 variants · 19 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #7,001
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 19 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,976
  • PHOTO-FINISH Überprüfung

Nearest frequency peer: Überprüfung (-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.

Rang-Peers am Tippfehler-Magneten „about“

Gleiche Seltenheitsbandbreite: nützlich, wenn ein Tippfehler auf ein Peer-Lemma trifft

corpus weight

What this shows „about“ sitzt unter diesen FrequencyWords-Peers; die Tippfehlertiefe steht separat im Edit-Distance-Chart.

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).

about vs abu
60% similar
about vs aut
60% similar
about vs akut
60% similar

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

Key facts for about
PropertyValue
Headwordabout
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdverb
IPA[əˈbaʊt]
Letters5
Frequency rank#7,001
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs19
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Häufigkeitslage von Tippfehler-Magnet „about“

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.aboutliegt hier neben dem Tippfehler-Druck:

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „Überprüfung“ (#7,000), „absoluter“ (#7,002), „östlichen“ (#6,999). Unter 6,976 „A“-Lemmata liegt „about“ bei #7,001. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around about (IPA [əˈbaʊt]), anadverb. Corpus frequency is #7,001 among 6,976 “A” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for about, with forms such as "abbout", "abotu", and "aboutt". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 19 confusable-pair relationships, "abu", "aut", "akut", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct German form is about, spelled A-B-O-U-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    an, etwa, gut, rund, ungefähr, zirka
  2. 2
    herum, ringsherum, ringsumher, rundherum, umher

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how about appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. This building is about 100 years old.

Synonyms

nearlynearapproximatelynot far fromalmostwell-nigh

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • abbout
  • abotu
  • aboutt
  • abuot
  • aobut
  • baout

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of about - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

abbout1abotu2aboutt1abuot2aobut2baout2
Edit distance from "about"

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 "about"?
"about" is spelled A-B-O-U-T. The IPA pronunciation is [əˈbaʊt].
What does "about" mean?
As an adverb, "about" means: an, etwa, gut, rund, ungefähr, zirka
What words are commonly confused with "about"?
"about" is commonly confused with "abu", "aut", "akut". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "about"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "about" is [əˈbaʊt]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "about" come from?
"about" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "about", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Anzug#7,007Asche#7,008beten#7,017Boten#7,020

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

Tommy6 variantsfred6 variantslande6 variantsEmail6 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list