apexvsAuerConfusable pair

Quick tell: apex is a noun, Auer is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“apex” is a noun and “Auer” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,183
“apex” frequency rank
#18,809
“Auer” frequency rank
54992
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature apex Auer
Definition die Kegelspitze deutschsprachiger Nachname, Familienname

Where the eye mixes apex and Auer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
apex
4 ch
Auer

Visual trap between apex and Auer

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: apex is [a.peks] while Auer is [ˈaʊ̯ɐ]. 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 name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54992, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

apex is recorded at frequency rank #36,183, classified as anoun, pronounced [a.peks]. Auer is at rank #18,809, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯ɐ].

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 54992, this pair ranks #996,935 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of apex vs Auer

Shared letters: ae. Private to "apex": px. Private to "Auer": ru.

"apex" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "Auer" · 4 letters · shape VVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • apexaepx · apexx · appex · apxe · paex
  • Aueraeur · auerr · aure · uaer

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "apex" for "Auer" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "apex" is a noun and "Auer" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "apex" vs "Auer" - which ranks higher?
"Auer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,809 in our German list, against #36,183 for "apex". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "apex" and "Auer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "apex" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Auer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #996,935 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "apex" and "Auer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "apel vs apex". 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 #996,935 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