AufgabevsausgabWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Aufgabe is a noun, ausgab is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Aufgabe” is a noun and “ausgab” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,027
“Aufgabe” frequency rank
#47,226
“ausgab” frequency rank
48253
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Aufgabe ausgab
Definition etwas, das zu erledigen ist; Arbeitsauftrag 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv der Nebensatzkonjugation des Verbs ausgeben

Where the eye mixes Aufgabe and ausgab

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
Aufgabe
6 ch
ausgab

Visual trap between Aufgabe and ausgab

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Aufgabe is [ˈaʊ̯fˌɡaːbə] while ausgab is [ˈaʊ̯sˌɡaːp]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48253, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Aufgabe is recorded at frequency rank #1,027, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌɡaːbə]. ausgab is at rank #47,226, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯sˌɡaːp].

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 48253, this pair ranks #1,255,309 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Aufgabe vs ausgab

Shared letters: abgu. Private to "Aufgabe": ef. Private to "ausgab": s.

"Aufgabe" · 7 letters · shape VVCCVCV  ·  "ausgab" · 6 letters · shape VVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Aufgabeafugabe · aufagbe · auffgabe · aufgabbe · aufgaeb · aufgbae · aufggabe · augfabe
  • ausgabasugab · augsab · ausagb · ausgabb · ausgba · ausggab · aussgab · uasgab

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Aufgabe" and "ausgab" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Aufgabe" is a noun and "ausgab" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Aufgabe" or "ausgab" show up more?
"Aufgabe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,027 in our German list, against #47,226 for "ausgab". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Aufgabe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ausgab" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,255,309 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Aufgabe" and "ausgab" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "angab vs ausgab". 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 #1,255,309 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