aufgebautvsaufgebauteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: aufgebaut is a verb, aufgebaute is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“aufgebaut” is a verb and “aufgebaute” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,635
“aufgebaut” frequency rank
#29,937
“aufgebaute” frequency rank
32572
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aufgebaut aufgebaute
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs aufbauen Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs aufgebaut

Where the eye mixes aufgebaut and aufgebaute

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. aufgebaut runs 9 letters (VVCCVCVVC) against aufgebaute's 10 (VVCCVCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
aufgebaut
10 ch
aufgebaute

Why the eye confuses aufgebaut with aufgebaute

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: aufgebaut is [ˈaʊ̯fɡəˌbaʊ̯t] while aufgebaute is [ˈaʊ̯fɡəˌbaʊ̯tə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “aufgebaut” sits inside “aufgebaute”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32572, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aufgebaut is recorded at frequency rank #2,635, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fɡəˌbaʊ̯t]. aufgebaute is at rank #29,937, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fɡəˌbaʊ̯tə].

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 32572, this pair ranks #1,704,802 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of aufgebaut vs aufgebaute

Shared letters: abefgtu. Private to "aufgebaut": -. Private to "aufgebaute": -.

"aufgebaut" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVCVVC  ·  "aufgebaute" · 10 letters · shape VVCCVCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aufgebaut ← afugebaut · aufegbaut · auffgebaut · aufgbeaut · aufgeabut · aufgebatu · aufgebautt · aufgebbaut
  • aufgebaute ← afugebaute · aufegbaute · auffgebaute · aufgbeaute · aufgeabute · aufgebatue · aufgebauet · aufgebautte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "aufgebaut" for "aufgebaute" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "aufgebaut" is a verb and "aufgebaute" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "aufgebaut" or "aufgebaute"?
"aufgebaut" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,635 in our German list, against #29,937 for "aufgebaute". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "aufgebaut" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aufgebaute" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,704,802 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aufgebaut" and "aufgebaute" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aufgebaute vs ausgebaute". 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 #1,704,802 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