answervsAusterWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#44,442
“answer” frequency rank
#49,499
“Auster” frequency rank
93941
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature answer Auster
Definition Antwort Muschel, deren Inneres zum Verzehr geeignet ist und als Delikatesse gilt

Where the eye mixes answer and Auster

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

6 ch
answer
6 ch
Auster

Visual trap between answer and Auster

A purely visual mix-up. answer ([ˈɑːnsə]) and Auster ([ˈaʊ̯stɐ]) 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 93941, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

answer is recorded at frequency rank #44,442, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈɑːnsə]. Auster is at rank #49,499, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯stɐ].

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 93941, this pair ranks #19,691 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of answer vs Auster

Shared letters: aers. Private to "answer": nw. Private to "Auster": tu.

"answer" · 6 letters · shape VCCCVC  ·  "Auster" · 6 letters · shape VVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • answerannswer · ansewr · ansswer · answerr · answre · answwer · anwser · asnwer
  • Austerausetr · ausster · austerr · austre · austter · autser · uaster

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "answer" for "Auster" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈɑːnsə] versus [ˈaʊ̯stɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "answer" vs "Auster" - which ranks higher?
"answer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #44,442 in our German list, against #49,499 for "Auster". 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 "answer" and "Auster" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "answer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Auster" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #19,691 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "answer" and "Auster" 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 #19,691 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