auflegenvsauflösenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#17,511
“auflegen” frequency rank
#9,851
“auflösen” frequency rank
27362
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature auflegen auflösen
Definition etwas auf etwas liegend positionieren eine Ansammlung zerstreuen

Where the eye mixes auflegen and auflösen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. auflegen and auflösen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
auflegen
8 ch
auflösen

Look-alike desk: auflegen vs auflösen

A purely visual mix-up. auflegen ([ˈaʊ̯fˌleːɡn̩]) and auflösen ([ˈaʊ̯fˌløːzn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27362, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

auflegen is recorded at frequency rank #17,511, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌleːɡn̩]. auflösen is at rank #9,851, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌløːzn̩].

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 27362, this pair ranks #1,803,002 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of auflegen vs auflösen

Shared letters: aeflnu. Private to "auflegen": g. Private to "auflösen": sö.

"auflegen" · 8 letters · shape VVCCVCVC  ·  "auflösen" · 8 letters · shape VVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • auflegen ← afulegen · aufelgen · aufflegen · aufleegn · auflegenn · aufleggen · auflegne · auflgeen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "auflegen" and "auflösen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaʊ̯fˌleːɡn̩] versus [ˈaʊ̯fˌløːzn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "auflegen" vs "auflösen" - which ranks higher?
"auflösen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,851 in our German list, against #17,511 for "auflegen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "auflegen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "auflösen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,803,002 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "auflegen" and "auflösen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "auflegen vs Aufzügen". 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 #1,803,002 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