aufkamvsaufmWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: aufkam is a verb, aufm is an abbrev, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“aufkam” is a verb and “aufm” is an abbrev - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,388
“aufkam” frequency rank
#7,865
“aufm” frequency rank
48253
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aufkam aufm
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv der Nebensatzkonjugation des Verbs aufkommen auf einem, auf dem

Where the eye mixes aufkam and aufm

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. aufkam runs 6 letters (VVCCVC) against aufm's 4 (VVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
aufkam
4 ch
aufm

Visual trap between aufkam and aufm

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: aufkam is [ˈaʊ̯fˌkaːm] while aufm is [ˈaʊ̯fm̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs abbrev), 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.

aufkam is recorded at frequency rank #40,388, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌkaːm]. aufm is at rank #7,865, tagged as anabbrev, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fm̩].

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 aufkam vs aufm

Shared letters: afmu. Private to "aufkam": k. Private to "aufm": -.

"aufkam" · 6 letters · shape VVCCVC  ·  "aufm" · 4 letters · shape VVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aufkam ← afukam · aufakm · auffkam · aufkamm · aufkkam · aufkma · aukfam · uafkam
  • aufm ← afum · auffm · aufmm · aumf · uafm

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "aufkam" for "aufm" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "aufkam" is a verb and "aufm" an abbrev, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "aufkam" or "aufm" show up more?
"aufm" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,865 in our German list, against #40,388 for "aufkam". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "aufkam" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aufm" - 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
  • "aufkam" and "aufm" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aufgab vs aufkam". 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