aufgebautvsaufgekauftWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,635
“aufgebaut” frequency rank
#29,477
“aufgekauft” frequency rank
32112
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aufgebaut aufgekauft
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs aufbauen Partizip Perfekt des Verbs aufkaufen

Where the eye mixes aufgebaut and aufgekauft

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. aufgebaut runs 9 letters (VVCCVCVVC) against aufgekauft's 10 (VVCCVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
aufgebaut
10 ch
aufgekauft

Visual trap between aufgebaut and aufgekauft

A purely visual mix-up. aufgebaut ([ˈaʊ̯fɡəˌbaʊ̯t]) and aufgekauft ([ˈaʊ̯fɡəˌkaʊ̯ft]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32112, 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]. aufgekauft is at rank #29,477, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fɡəˌkaʊ̯ft].

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 32112, this pair ranks #1,714,474 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of aufgebaut vs aufgekauft

Shared letters: aefgtu. Private to "aufgebaut": b. Private to "aufgekauft": k.

"aufgebaut" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVCVVC  ·  "aufgekauft" · 10 letters · shape VVCCVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aufgebaut ← afugebaut · aufegbaut · auffgebaut · aufgbeaut · aufgeabut · aufgebatu · aufgebautt · aufgebbaut
  • aufgekauft ← afugekauft · aufegkauft · auffgekauft · aufgeakuft · aufgekafut · aufgekaufft · aufgekauftt · aufgekautf

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "aufgebaut" for "aufgekauft" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaʊ̯fɡəˌbaʊ̯t] versus [ˈaʊ̯fɡəˌkaʊ̯ft]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "aufgebaut" or "aufgekauft"?
"aufgebaut" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,635 in our German list, against #29,477 for "aufgekauft". 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 "aufgekauft" 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 "aufgekauft" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,714,474 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aufgebaut" and "aufgekauft" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "angekauft vs aufgekauft". 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 #1,714,474 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