aufführenvsausführenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#19,133
“aufführen” frequency rank
#7,150
“ausführen” frequency rank
26283
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aufführen ausführen
Definition sich (schlecht) verhalten in andere Länder verkaufen

Where the eye mixes aufführen and ausführen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. aufführen 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
aufführen
9 ch
ausführen

Visual trap between aufführen and ausführen

A purely visual mix-up. aufführen ([ˈaʊ̯fˌfyːʁən]) 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 differ by a single letter - f in “aufführen” becomes s in “ausführen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26283, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aufführen is recorded at frequency rank #19,133, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌfyːʁən]. 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 26283, this pair ranks #1,820,467 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of aufführen vs ausführen

Shared letters: aefhnruü. Private to "aufführen": -. Private to "ausführen": s.

"aufführen" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVCCVC  ·  "ausführen" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aufführen" and "ausführen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaʊ̯fˌfyːʁən] versus [ˈaʊ̯sˌfyːʁən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "aufführen" 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 #19,133 for "aufführen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "aufführen" 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 #1,820,467 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aufführen" and "ausführen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aufführen vs ausfahren". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,820,467 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