aufbautvsAufbautenConfusable pair

Quick tell: aufbaut is a verb, Aufbauten is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“aufbaut” is a verb and “Aufbauten” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,810
“aufbaut” frequency rank
#38,591
“Aufbauten” frequency rank
56401
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aufbaut Aufbauten
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv der Nebensatzkonjugation des Verbs aufbauen Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Aufbau

Where the eye mixes aufbaut and Aufbauten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
aufbaut
9 ch
Aufbauten

Why the eye confuses aufbaut with Aufbauten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: aufbaut is [ˈaʊ̯fˌbaʊ̯t] while Aufbauten is [ˈaʊ̯fˌbaʊ̯tn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “aufbaut” sits inside “Aufbauten”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56401, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aufbaut is recorded at frequency rank #17,810, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌbaʊ̯t]. Aufbauten is at rank #38,591, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌbaʊ̯tn̩].

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 56401, this pair ranks #941,611 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aufbaut vs Aufbauten

Shared letters: abftu. Private to "aufbaut": -. Private to "Aufbauten": en.

"aufbaut" · 7 letters · shape VVCCVVC  ·  "Aufbauten" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aufbautafubaut · aubfaut · aufabut · aufbatu · aufbautt · aufbbaut · aufbuat · auffbaut
  • Aufbautenafubauten · aubfauten · aufabuten · aufbatuen · aufbauetn · aufbautenn · aufbautne · aufbautten

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "aufbaut" and "Aufbauten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "aufbaut" is a verb and "Aufbauten" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "aufbaut" or "Aufbauten" show up more?
"aufbaut" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,810 in our German list, against #38,591 for "Aufbauten". 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 "aufbaut" and "Aufbauten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "aufbaut" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Aufbauten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #941,611 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aufbaut" and "Aufbauten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Altbauten vs Aufbauten". 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 #941,611 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