AufbautenvsausbauenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#38,591
“Aufbauten” frequency rank
#9,681
“ausbauen” frequency rank
48272
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Aufbauten ausbauen
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Aufbau ein Teil aus einer Maschine, einer technischen Anlage herausnehmen

Where the eye mixes Aufbauten and ausbauen

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

9 ch
Aufbauten
8 ch
ausbauen

Why the eye confuses Aufbauten with ausbauen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Aufbauten is [ˈaʊ̯fˌbaʊ̯tn̩] while ausbauen is [ˈaʊ̯sˌbaʊ̯ən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48272, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Aufbauten is recorded at frequency rank #38,591, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌbaʊ̯tn̩]. ausbauen is at rank #9,681, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯sˌbaʊ̯ən].

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 48272, this pair ranks #1,254,662 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Aufbauten vs ausbauen

Shared letters: abenu. Private to "Aufbauten": ft. Private to "ausbauen": s.

"Aufbauten" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVVCVC  ·  "ausbauen" · 8 letters · shape VVCCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Aufbauten ← afubauten · aubfauten · aufabuten · aufbatuen · aufbauetn · aufbautenn · aufbautne · aufbautten
  • ausbauen ← asubauen · aubsauen · ausabuen · ausbaeun · ausbauenn · ausbaune · ausbbauen · ausbuaen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Aufbauten" and "ausbauen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Aufbauten" is a noun and "ausbauen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Aufbauten" or "ausbauen"?
"ausbauen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,681 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Aufbauten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ausbauen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,254,662 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Aufbauten" and "ausbauen" 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 #1,254,662 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