abweisenvsaufweisenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#37,338
“abweisen” frequency rank
#6,390
“aufweisen” frequency rank
43728
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abweisen aufweisen
Definition eine Bitte, eine Anfrage ablehnen; einer Bitte oder Anfrage nicht nachkommen etwas als Merkmal haben

Where the eye mixes abweisen and aufweisen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. abweisen runs 8 letters (VCCVVCVC) against aufweisen's 9 (VVCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
abweisen
9 ch
aufweisen

Look-alike desk: abweisen vs aufweisen

A purely visual mix-up. abweisen ([ˈapˌvaɪ̯zn̩]) and aufweisen ([ˈaʊ̯fˌvaɪ̯zn̩]) 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 43728, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abweisen is recorded at frequency rank #37,338, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈapˌvaɪ̯zn̩]. aufweisen is at rank #6,390, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌvaɪ̯zn̩].

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 43728, this pair ranks #1,408,812 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of abweisen vs aufweisen

Shared letters: aeinsw. Private to "abweisen": b. Private to "aufweisen": fu.

"abweisen" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCVC  ·  "aufweisen" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abweisenabbweisen · abewisen · abweiesn · abweisenn · abweisne · abweissen · abwesien · abwiesen
  • aufweisenafuweisen · aufewisen · auffweisen · aufweiesn · aufweisenn · aufweisne · aufweissen · aufwesien

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "abweisen" for "aufweisen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈapˌvaɪ̯zn̩] versus [ˈaʊ̯fˌvaɪ̯zn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "abweisen" or "aufweisen" show up more?
"aufweisen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,390 in our German list, against #37,338 for "abweisen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "abweisen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aufweisen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,408,812 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abweisen" and "aufweisen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abweisen vs Abweisung". 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 #1,408,812 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