aufbewahrenvsaufgefahrenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#20,506
“aufbewahren” frequency rank
#36,191
“aufgefahren” frequency rank
56697
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aufbewahren aufgefahren
Definition etwas an einem geeigneten Ort (zur späteren Verwendung) verwahren Partizip Perfekt des Verbs auffahren

Where the eye mixes aufbewahren and aufgefahren

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. aufbewahren and aufgefahren follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VVCCVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

11 ch
aufbewahren
11 ch
aufgefahren

Visual trap between aufbewahren and aufgefahren

A purely visual mix-up. aufbewahren ([ˈaʊ̯fbəˌvaːʁən]) and aufgefahren ([ˈaʊ̯fɡəˌfaːʁən]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56697, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aufbewahren is recorded at frequency rank #20,506, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fbəˌvaːʁən]. aufgefahren is at rank #36,191, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fɡəˌfaːʁən].

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 56697, this pair ranks #930,100 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aufbewahren vs aufgefahren

Shared letters: aefhnru. Private to "aufbewahren": bw. Private to "aufgefahren": g.

"aufbewahren" · 11 letters · shape VVCCVCVCCVC  ·  "aufgefahren" · 11 letters · shape VVCCVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aufbewahren ← afubewahren · aubfewahren · aufbbewahren · aufbeawhren · aufbewahern · aufbewahhren · aufbewahrenn · aufbewahrne
  • aufgefahren ← afugefahren · aufegfahren · auffgefahren · aufgeafhren · aufgefahern · aufgefahhren · aufgefahrenn · aufgefahrne

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aufbewahren" and "aufgefahren" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaʊ̯fbəˌvaːʁən] versus [ˈaʊ̯fɡəˌfaːʁən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "aufbewahren" or "aufgefahren" show up more?
"aufbewahren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,506 in our German list, against #36,191 for "aufgefahren". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "aufbewahren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aufgefahren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #930,100 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aufbewahren" and "aufgefahren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aufgefahren vs ausgefahren". 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 #930,100 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