AlpvsausTell them apart

Quick tell: Alp is a noun, aus is a preposition, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Alp” is a noun and “aus” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,907
“Alp” frequency rank
#32
“aus” frequency rank
30939
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Alp aus
Definition gespenstisches Wesen, das Menschen besonders in der Nacht plagt von drinnen nach draußen

Where the eye mixes Alp and aus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
Alp
3 ch
aus

Visual trap between Alp and aus

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Alp is [alp] while aus is [aʊ̯s]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30939, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Alp is recorded at frequency rank #30,907, classified as anoun, pronounced [alp]. aus is at rank #32, tagged as aprep, pronounced [aʊ̯s].

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 30939, this pair ranks #1,737,999 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Alp vs aus

Shared letters: a. Private to "Alp": lp. Private to "aus": su.

"Alp" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "aus" · 3 letters · shape VVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Alp" and "aus" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Alp" is a noun and "aus" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Alp" or "aus" show up more?
"aus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32 in our German list, against #30,907 for "Alp". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Alp" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,737,999 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Alp" and "aus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Alp vs AUD". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,737,999 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