absagenvsaussagenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“absagen” and “aussagen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,793
“absagen” frequency rank
#2,050
“aussagen” frequency rank
12843
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature absagen aussagen
Definition etwas Angekündigtes widerrufen, eine Veranstaltung oder sonstiges nicht stattfinden lassen etwas mit Bestimmtheit sagen

Where the eye mixes absagen and aussagen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
absagen
8 ch
aussagen

Why the eye confuses absagen with aussagen

A purely visual mix-up. absagen ([ˈapˌzaːɡn̩]) and aussagen ([ˈaʊ̯sˌzaːɡn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12843, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

absagen is recorded at frequency rank #10,793, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌzaːɡn̩]. aussagen is at rank #2,050, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯sˌzaːɡn̩].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 12843, this pair ranks #1,961,702 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of absagen vs aussagen

Shared letters: aegns. Private to "absagen": b. Private to "aussagen": u.

"absagen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "aussagen" · 8 letters · shape VVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • absagenabasgen · abbsagen · absaegn · absagenn · absaggen · absagne · absgaen · abssagen
  • aussagenasusagen · ausagen · ausasgen · aussaegn · aussagenn · aussaggen · aussagne · aussgaen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "absagen" and "aussagen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈapˌzaːɡn̩] versus [ˈaʊ̯sˌzaːɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "absagen" or "aussagen"?
"aussagen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,050 in our German list, against #10,793 for "absagen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "absagen" and "aussagen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "absagen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aussagen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,961,702 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "absagen" and "aussagen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "absagen vs abtragen". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,961,702 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list