ÄmternvsAusternTell them apart

Which to use

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

#13,533
“Ämtern” frequency rank
#38,610
“Austern” frequency rank
52143
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ämtern Austern
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Amt Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Auster

Where the eye mixes Ämtern and Austern

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Ämtern
7 ch
Austern

Visual trap between Ämtern and Austern

A purely visual mix-up. Ämtern ([ˈɛmtɐn]) and Austern ([ˈaʊ̯stɐn]) 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 52143, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ämtern is recorded at frequency rank #13,533, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈɛmtɐn]. Austern is at rank #38,610, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯stɐn].

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 52143, this pair ranks #1,108,409 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Ämtern vs Austern

Shared letters: enrt. Private to "Ämtern": . Private to "Austern": asu.

"Ämtern" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC  ·  "Austern" · 7 letters · shape VVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Austernasutern · ausetrn · ausstern · austenr · austernn · austerrn · austren · austtern

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Ämtern" and "Austern" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈɛmtɐn] versus [ˈaʊ̯stɐn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Ämtern" or "Austern" show up more?
"Ämtern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,533 in our German list, against #38,610 for "Austern". 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 "Ämtern" and "Austern" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Ämtern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Austern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,108,409 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ämtern" and "Austern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Auster vs Austern". 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 #1,108,409 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