auffallenvsausfüllenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#12,660
“auffallen” frequency rank
#10,810
“ausfüllen” frequency rank
23470
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature auffallen ausfüllen
Definition Aufsehen erregen ein Formular ergänzen

Where the eye mixes auffallen and ausfüllen

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

9 ch
auffallen
9 ch
ausfüllen

Look-alike desk: auffallen vs ausfüllen

A purely visual mix-up. auffallen ([ˈaʊ̯fˌfalən]) and ausfüllen ([ˈaʊ̯sˌfʏlən]) 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 23470, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

auffallen is recorded at frequency rank #12,660, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌfalən]. ausfüllen is at rank #10,810, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯sˌfʏlən].

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 23470, this pair ranks #1,860,911 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of auffallen vs ausfüllen

Shared letters: aeflnu. Private to "auffallen": -. Private to "ausfüllen": sü.

"auffallen" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVCCVC  ·  "ausfüllen" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • auffallen ← afufallen · aufafllen · aufallen · auffaleln · auffalen · auffallenn · auffallne · aufflalen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "auffallen" for "ausfüllen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaʊ̯fˌfalən] versus [ˈaʊ̯sˌfʏlən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "auffallen" or "ausfüllen" show up more?
"ausfüllen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,810 in our German list, against #12,660 for "auffallen". 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 "auffallen" and "ausfüllen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "auffallen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ausfüllen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,860,911 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "auffallen" and "ausfüllen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ausfüllen vs ausrollen". 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 #1,860,911 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