anstellenvsausteilenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#7,718
“anstellen” frequency rank
#37,978
“austeilen” frequency rank
45696
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature anstellen austeilen
Definition einen Gegenstand an einen anderen anlehnen Gegenstände an mehrere Personen verteilen

Where the eye mixes anstellen and austeilen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. anstellen (VCCCVCCVC) and austeilen (VVCCVVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

9 ch
anstellen
9 ch
austeilen

Visual trap between anstellen and austeilen

A purely visual mix-up. anstellen ([ˈanˌʃtɛlən]) and austeilen ([ˈaʊ̯sˌtaɪ̯lən]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45696, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

anstellen is recorded at frequency rank #7,718, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈanˌʃtɛlən]. austeilen is at rank #37,978, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯sˌtaɪ̯lən].

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 45696, this pair ranks #1,344,270 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of anstellen vs austeilen

Shared letters: aelnst. Private to "anstellen": -. Private to "austeilen": iu.

"anstellen" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCVC  ·  "austeilen" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • anstellen ← annstellen · ansetllen · ansstellen · ansteleln · anstelen · anstellenn · anstellne · anstlelen
  • austeilen ← asuteilen · ausetilen · aussteilen · austeieln · austeilenn · austeillen · austeilne · austelien

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "anstellen" for "austeilen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈanˌʃtɛlən] versus [ˈaʊ̯sˌtaɪ̯lən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "anstellen" vs "austeilen" - which ranks higher?
"anstellen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,718 in our German list, against #37,978 for "austeilen". 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 "anstellen" and "austeilen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "anstellen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "austeilen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,344,270 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "anstellen" and "austeilen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "austeilen vs austreiben". 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 #1,344,270 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