AkutenvsAugenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#15,289
“Akuten” frequency rank
#472
“Augen” frequency rank
15761
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Akuten Augen
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Akut Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Auge

Where the eye mixes Akuten and Augen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Akuten runs 6 letters (VCVCVC) against Augen's 5 (VVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Akuten
5 ch
Augen

Visual trap between Akuten and Augen

A purely visual mix-up. Akuten ([aˈkuːtn̩]) and Augen ([ˈaʊ̯ɡn̩]) 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 15761, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Akuten is recorded at frequency rank #15,289, classified as anoun, pronounced [aˈkuːtn̩]. Augen is at rank #472, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯ɡn̩].

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 15761, this pair ranks #1,941,353 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Akuten vs Augen

Shared letters: aenu. Private to "Akuten": kt. Private to "Augen": g.

"Akuten" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "Augen" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Akuten ← akkuten · aktuen · akuetn · akutenn · akutne · akutten · aukten · kauten
  • Augen ← aguen · auegn · augenn · auggen · augne · uagen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Akuten" for "Augen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([aˈkuːtn̩] versus [ˈaʊ̯ɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Akuten" or "Augen" show up more?
"Augen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #472 in our German list, against #15,289 for "Akuten". 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 "Akuten" and "Augen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Akuten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Augen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,941,353 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Akuten" and "Augen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Akuten vs Auen". 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 #1,941,353 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