api vs aus, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“api” is a noun and “aus” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,828
“api” frequency rank: #32
“aus” frequency rank: 20860
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	api	aus
Definition	Feuer; Hitze und Licht, das von etwas ausgeht, das brennt	von drinnen nach draußen

Letter map: api vs aus

Shared letters muted; letters that set api and aus apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch

api

3 ch

aus

Grammar separator: api vs aus

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: api is anoun and ausapreposition. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20860, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

api is recorded at frequency rank #20,828, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. aus is at rank #32, tagged as aprep, pronounced [aʊ̯s].

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 20860, this pair ranks #1,892,910 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of api vs aus

Shared letters: a. Private to "api": ip. Private to "aus": su.

"api" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "aus" · 3 letters · shape VVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "api" for "aus" ever safe?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "api" is a noun and "aus" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

In ordinary German text, does "api" or "aus" show up more?

"aus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32 in our German list, against #20,828 for "api". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pair "api" vs "aus" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

Full dictionary entry for "api" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "aus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #1,892,910 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"api" and "aus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "api vs puzzles". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,892,910 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.