anlehnen

[ˈanˌleːnən]

/[ˈanˌleːnən]/ verb

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

The verdict

“anlehnen” is uncommon German (frequency #55,120 among 6,976 “A” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#55,120
frequency rank, German
6,976
“A” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - (etwas) leicht schräg irgendwo, an irgendetwas hinstellen

Corpus desk

Index DE-anlehnen · anlehnen · German

anlehnen · rank #55,120 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #55,120
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,976
  • PHOTO-FINISH angesprungen

Nearest frequency peer: angesprungen (-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.

Langschwanz-Ränge nahe „anlehnen“

Dünnes Band: Balken invertieren den Rang, seltenere Formen wirken kürzer

corpus weight

What this shows Langschwanz-Sicht: wo „anlehnen“ gegen ähnlich seltene deutsche Ränge sitzt.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for anlehnen
PropertyValue
Headwordanlehnen
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ˈanˌleːnən]
Letters8
Frequency rank#55,120
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „anlehnen“ im Deutschen

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).anlehnenfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „angesprungen“ (#55,119), „Anpassungsfähigkeit“ (#55,121), „angegriffene“ (#55,118). Unter 6,976 „A“-Lemmata liegt „anlehnen“ bei #55,120. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

anlehnen is uncommon German at frequency #55,120 among 6,976 “A” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [ˈanˌleːnən]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for anlehnen, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct German form is anlehnen, spelled A-N-L-E-H-N-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    (etwas) leicht schräg irgendwo, an irgendetwas hinstellen
  2. 2
    (etwas Verschließbares) nicht ganz zumachen, ein Stückchen offen lassen
  3. 3
    sich leicht in eine Richtung neigen und dabei irgendwo Halt finden
  4. 4
    sich bei seinem Tun eng nach jemandem oder etwas richten, nach einem Vorbild in ähnlicher Art ausführen

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Wenn wir das Bild auf die Kommode stellen und an die Wand anlehnen, brauchen wir keine Nägel.
  2. Bei Oma kommt jeder einfach so ins Haus, weil sie die Haustür immer nur anlehnt.

Antonyms

schließenverschließen

This word in other languages

lean(English)adosser(Français)

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 "anlehnen"?
"anlehnen" is spelled A-N-L-E-H-N-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈanˌleːnən].
What does "anlehnen" mean?
As a verb, "anlehnen" means: (etwas) leicht schräg irgendwo, an irgendetwas hinstellen
How do you pronounce "anlehnen"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "anlehnen" is [ˈanˌleːnən]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "anlehnen" come from?
"anlehnen" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "anlehnen", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

anführte#55,117Anstiege#55,124anbinden#55,113abzählen#55,092

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list