absehenvsaussehenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#26,726
“absehen” frequency rank
#1,408
“aussehen” frequency rank
28134
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature absehen aussehen
Definition (zukünftige Ereignisse) voraussehen ein Bild nach außen abgeben

Where the eye mixes absehen and aussehen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. absehen runs 7 letters (VCCVCVC) against aussehen's 8 (VVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
absehen
8 ch
aussehen

Look-alike desk: absehen vs aussehen

A purely visual mix-up. absehen ([ˈapˌz̥eːən]) and aussehen ([ˈaʊ̯sˌz̥eːən]) 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 28134, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

absehen is recorded at frequency rank #26,726, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌz̥eːən]. aussehen is at rank #1,408, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯sˌz̥eːən].

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 28134, this pair ranks #1,789,975 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of absehen vs aussehen

Shared letters: aehns. Private to "absehen": b. Private to "aussehen": u.

"absehen" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "aussehen" · 8 letters · shape VVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • absehenabbsehen · abeshen · abseehn · absehenn · absehhen · absehne · absheen · abssehen
  • aussehenasusehen · ausehen · auseshen · ausseehn · aussehenn · aussehhen · aussehne · aussheen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "absehen" for "aussehen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈapˌz̥eːən] versus [ˈaʊ̯sˌz̥eːən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "absehen" vs "aussehen" - which ranks higher?
"aussehen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,408 in our German list, against #26,726 for "absehen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "absehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aussehen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,789,975 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "absehen" and "aussehen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abdrehen vs absehen". 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 #1,789,975 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