auffüllenvsausfüllenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#26,306
“auffüllen” frequency rank
#10,810
“ausfüllen” frequency rank
37116
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature auffüllen ausfüllen
Definition ein (leeres) Behältnis (erneut) mit einer bestimmten Substanz voll machen ein Formular ergänzen

Where the eye mixes auffüllen and ausfüllen

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

Look-alike desk: auffüllen vs ausfüllen

A purely visual mix-up. auffüllen ([ˈaʊ̯fˌfʏlən]) 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 differ by a single letter - f in “auffüllen” becomes s in “ausfüllen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37116, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

auffüllen is recorded at frequency rank #26,306, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌfʏlən]. 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 37116, this pair ranks #1,598,438 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of auffüllen vs ausfüllen

Shared letters: aeflnuü. Private to "auffüllen": -. Private to "ausfüllen": s.

"auffüllen" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVCCVC  ·  "ausfüllen" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "auffüllen" and "ausfüllen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaʊ̯fˌfʏlən] versus [ˈaʊ̯sˌfʏlən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "auffüllen" 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 #26,306 for "auffüllen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "auffüllen" 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 #1,598,438 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "auffüllen" and "ausfüllen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ausfüllen vs ausrollen". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,598,438 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