antretenvsaustretenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#5,907
“antreten” frequency rank
#23,031
“austreten” frequency rank
28938
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature antreten austreten
Definition etwas beginnen seinen Platz/Bereich die Grenze überschreitend verlassen; aus etwas heraustreten, herausströmen, hervorquellen

Where the eye mixes antreten and austreten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. antreten runs 8 letters (VCCCVCVC) against austreten's 9 (VVCCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
antreten
9 ch
austreten

Look-alike desk: antreten vs austreten

A purely visual mix-up. antreten ([ˈanˌtʁeːtn̩]) and austreten ([ˈaʊ̯sˌtʁeːtn̩]) 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 28938, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

antreten is recorded at frequency rank #5,907, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈanˌtʁeːtn̩]. austreten is at rank #23,031, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯sˌtʁeːtn̩].

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 28938, this pair ranks #1,775,884 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of antreten vs austreten

Shared letters: aenrt. Private to "antreten": -. Private to "austreten": su.

"antreten" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC  ·  "austreten" · 9 letters · shape VVCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • antreten ← anntreten · anrteten · anterten · antreetn · antretenn · antretne · antretten · antrreten
  • austreten ← asutreten · ausrteten · ausstreten · austerten · austreetn · austretenn · austretne · austretten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "antreten" and "austreten" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈanˌtʁeːtn̩] versus [ˈaʊ̯sˌtʁeːtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "antreten" vs "austreten" - which ranks higher?
"antreten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,907 in our German list, against #23,031 for "austreten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "antreten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "austreten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,775,884 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "antreten" and "austreten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Auftretens vs austreten". 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 #1,775,884 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