Which to use
“aufgeben” and “aufgehen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,249
- “aufgeben” frequency rank
- #16,355
- “aufgehen” frequency rank
- 20604
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | aufgeben | aufgehen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | etwas Sinnloses beenden, aufhören, einstellen; etwas beenden, obwohl der Sinn im Weitermachen besteht | sich öffnen |
Where the eye mixes aufgeben and aufgehen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. aufgeben and aufgehen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: aufgeben vs aufgehen
A purely visual mix-up. aufgeben ([ˈaʊ̯fˌɡeːbn̩]) and aufgehen ([ˈaʊ̯fˌɡeːən]) 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 - b in “aufgeben” becomes h in “aufgehen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20604, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
aufgeben is recorded at frequency rank #4,249, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌɡeːbn̩]. aufgehen is at rank #16,355, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌɡeːən].
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 20604, this pair ranks #1,895,824 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of aufgeben vs aufgehen
Shared letters: aefgnu. Private to "aufgeben": b. Private to "aufgehen": h.
"aufgeben" · 8 letters · shape VVCCVCVC · "aufgehen" · 8 letters · shape VVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "aufgeben" and "aufgehen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "aufgeben" vs "aufgehen" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "aufgeben" and "aufgehen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "aufgeben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "aufgehen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,895,824 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "aufgeben" and "aufgehen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aufdrehen vs aufgehen". 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 #1,895,824 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.