AufgabenvsauftauenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#1,380
“Aufgaben” frequency rank
#41,662
“auftauen” frequency rank
43042
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Aufgaben auftauen
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Aufgabe Gefrorenes vom Eis befreien, schmelzen^([2])

Where the eye mixes Aufgaben and auftauen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Aufgaben (VVCCVCVC) and auftauen (VVCCVVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
Aufgaben
8 ch
auftauen

Look-alike desk: Aufgaben vs auftauen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Aufgaben is [ˈaʊ̯fˌɡaːbn̩] while auftauen is [ˈaʊ̯fˌtaʊ̯ən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43042, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Aufgaben is recorded at frequency rank #1,380, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌɡaːbn̩]. auftauen is at rank #41,662, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌtaʊ̯ən].

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 43042, this pair ranks #1,430,384 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Aufgaben vs auftauen

Shared letters: aefnu. Private to "Aufgaben": bg. Private to "auftauen": t.

"Aufgaben" · 8 letters · shape VVCCVCVC  ·  "auftauen" · 8 letters · shape VVCCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Aufgaben ← afugaben · aufagben · auffgaben · aufgabben · aufgabenn · aufgabne · aufgaebn · aufgbaen
  • auftauen ← afutauen · aufatuen · aufftauen · auftaeun · auftauenn · auftaune · aufttauen · auftuaen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Aufgaben" and "auftauen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Aufgaben" is a noun and "auftauen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Aufgaben" or "auftauen"?
"Aufgaben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,380 in our German list, against #41,662 for "auftauen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "Aufgaben" and "auftauen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Aufgaben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "auftauen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,430,384 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Aufgaben" and "auftauen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Aufbauten vs auftauen". 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 #1,430,384 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