aufessenvsauffassenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#47,957
“aufessen” frequency rank
#35,068
“auffassen” frequency rank
83025
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aufessen auffassen
Definition etwas vollständig essen, so dass kein (essbarer) Rest übrig bleibt etwas einfach nur (neutral) verstehen und begreifen

Where the eye mixes aufessen and auffassen

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

8 ch
aufessen
9 ch
auffassen

Why the eye confuses aufessen with auffassen

A purely visual mix-up. aufessen ([ˈaʊ̯fˌʔɛsn̩]) and auffassen ([ˈaʊ̯fˌfasn̩]) 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 83025, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aufessen is recorded at frequency rank #47,957, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌʔɛsn̩]. auffassen is at rank #35,068, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌfasn̩].

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 83025, this pair ranks #146,920 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of aufessen vs auffassen

Shared letters: aefnsu. Private to "aufessen": -. Private to "auffassen": -.

"aufessen" · 8 letters · shape VVCVCCVC  ·  "auffassen" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aufessen ← afuessen · auefssen · aufesen · aufesesn · aufessenn · aufessne · aufeßen · auffessen
  • auffassen ← afufassen · aufafssen · aufassen · auffasen · auffasesn · auffassenn · auffassne · auffaßen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "aufessen" and "auffassen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaʊ̯fˌʔɛsn̩] versus [ˈaʊ̯fˌfasn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "aufessen" or "auffassen"?
"auffassen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,068 in our German list, against #47,957 for "aufessen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "aufessen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "auffassen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #146,920 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aufessen" and "auffassen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "auffahren vs auffassen". 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 #146,920 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