vorab
[foːɐ̯ˈʔap]
The verdict
“vorab” is a regularly-used German word, ranked #6,875 in German word frequency and used as an adverb.
- #6,875
- frequency rank, German
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - bevor etwas anderes geschieht oder bevor etwas zu einem bestimmten Termin vorgesehen ist
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | vorab |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | [foːɐ̯ˈʔap] |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #6,875 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “vorab” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for vorab is 5 letters long, classified as an adverb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [foːɐ̯ˈʔap]. Corpus data places it at rank #6,875 in overall German word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "bevor etwas anderes geschieht oder bevor etwas zu einem bestimmten Termin vorgesehen ist".
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for vorab, with forms such as "ovrab", "voarb", and "vorabb". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "vorn", "vorm", "vors", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct German form is vorab, spelled V-O-R-A-B.
Definition
- 1bevor etwas anderes geschieht oder bevor etwas zu einem bestimmten Termin vorgesehen ist
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ovrab,voarb,vorabb,vorba,vorrab,vroab,vvorab
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of vorab - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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
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Using “vorab”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is V-O-R-A-B - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [foːɐ̯ˈʔap] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “vorn” - see the side-by-side comparison. vorab vs vorn
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.