ÄrgervsAugeTell them apart

Which to use

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

#3,498
“Ärger” frequency rank
#1,280
“Auge” frequency rank
4778
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ärger Auge
Definition spontane, innere, emotionale Reaktion hochgradiger Unzufriedenheit auf eine Situation, eine Person oder eine Erinnerung, die der Verärgerte lieber anders gesehen hätte Sinnesorgan zum Sehen

Where the eye mixes Ärger and Auge

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

5 ch
Ärger
4 ch
Auge

Visual trap between Ärger and Auge

A purely visual mix-up. Ärger ([ˈɛʁɡɐ]) and Auge ([ˈaʊ̯ɡə]) 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 4778, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ärger is recorded at frequency rank #3,498, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈɛʁɡɐ]. Auge is at rank #1,280, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯ɡə].

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 4778, this pair ranks #1,996,698 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Ärger vs Auge

Shared letters: eg. Private to "Ärger": . Private to "Auge": au.

"Ärger" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "Auge" · 4 letters · shape VVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Augeague · aueg · augge · uage

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Ärger" for "Auge" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈɛʁɡɐ] versus [ˈaʊ̯ɡə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Ärger" or "Auge" show up more?
"Auge" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,280 in our German list, against #3,498 for "Ärger". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Ärger" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Auge" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,996,698 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ärger" and "Auge" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ages vs Ärger". 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 #1,996,698 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