prellen

[ˈpʁɛlən]

/[ˈpʁɛlən]/ verb

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

The verdict

“prellen” is uncommon German (frequency #85,703 among 3,409 “P” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#85,703
frequency rank, German
3,409
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - die Rechnung in einem Restaurant nicht bezahlen

Corpus desk

Index DE-prellen · prellen · German

prellen · rank #85,703 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #85,703
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,409
  • PHOTO-FINISH Preissenkungen

Nearest frequency peer: Preissenkungen (-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 „prellen“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for prellen
PropertyValue
Headwordprellen
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ˈpʁɛlən]
Letters7
Frequency rank#85,703
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „prellen“ im Deutschen

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.prellenfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Preissenkungen“ (#85,702), „Pressung“ (#85,704), „Praetorius“ (#85,700). Unter 3,409 „P“-Lemmata liegt „prellen“ bei #85,703. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

prellen is uncommon German at frequency #85,703 among 3,409 “P” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [ˈpʁɛlən]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for prellen, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable German rules. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct German form is prellen, spelled P-R-E-L-L-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    die Rechnung in einem Restaurant nicht bezahlen
  2. 2
    jemanden trickreich und arglistig um die Rückzahlung eines Geldbetrages bringen
  3. 3
    als Schalterkontakt nachfedern
  4. 4
    stumpf verletzen; eine Prellung zufügen
  5. 5
    an etwas aufschlagen/von etwas zurückgeworfen werden

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Als der Gast die Zeche prellte, rief der Wirt die Polizei.
  2. Nachdem er ihm das Geld geliehen hatte, wurde er um die Rückzahlung geprellt.

Antonyms

zahlen

This word in other languages

cheat(English)estafar(Español)escroquer(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 "prellen"?
"prellen" is spelled P-R-E-L-L-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈpʁɛlən].
What does "prellen" mean?
As a verb, "prellen" means: die Rechnung in einem Restaurant nicht bezahlen
How do you pronounce "prellen"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "prellen" is [ˈpʁɛlən]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "prellen" come from?
"prellen" 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 "prellen", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

pyramid#85,721rafting#85,727Paisley#85,669resolut#85,759

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list