auffahrenvsausführenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#37,969
“auffahren” frequency rank
#7,150
“ausführen” frequency rank
45119
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature auffahren ausführen
Definition beim Fahren gegen die Rückseite des vorausfahrenden Fahrzeugs oder gegen ein Hindernis prallen; auf Grund laufen in andere Länder verkaufen

Where the eye mixes auffahren and ausführen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. auffahren and ausführen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VVCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
auffahren
9 ch
ausführen

Look-alike desk: auffahren vs ausführen

A purely visual mix-up. auffahren ([ˈaʊ̯fˌfaːʁən]) and ausführen ([ˈaʊ̯sˌfyːʁən]) 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 45119, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

auffahren is recorded at frequency rank #37,969, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌfaːʁən]. ausführen is at rank #7,150, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯sˌfyːʁən].

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 45119, this pair ranks #1,363,869 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of auffahren vs ausführen

Shared letters: aefhnru. Private to "auffahren": -. Private to "ausführen": sü.

"auffahren" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVCCVC  ·  "ausführen" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • auffahren ← afufahren · aufafhren · aufahren · auffahern · auffahhren · auffahrenn · auffahrne · auffahrren

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "auffahren" for "ausführen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaʊ̯fˌfaːʁən] versus [ˈaʊ̯sˌfyːʁən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "auffahren" vs "ausführen" - which ranks higher?
"ausführen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,150 in our German list, against #37,969 for "auffahren". 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 "auffahren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ausführen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,363,869 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "auffahren" and "ausführen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "auffahren vs Ausfahrten". 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 #1,363,869 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