Which to use
“auflegen” and “aufregen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,511
- “auflegen” frequency rank
- #8,512
- “aufregen” frequency rank
- 26023
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | auflegen | aufregen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | etwas auf etwas liegend positionieren | jemanden erregen, unruhig machen |
Where the eye mixes auflegen and aufregen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. auflegen and aufregen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: auflegen vs aufregen
A purely visual mix-up. auflegen ([ˈaʊ̯fˌleːɡn̩]) and aufregen ([ˈaʊ̯fˌʁeːɡn̩]) 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 - l in “auflegen” becomes r in “aufregen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26023, 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]. aufregen is at rank #8,512, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌʁeːɡn̩].
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 26023, this pair ranks #1,824,395 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of auflegen vs aufregen
Shared letters: aefgnu. Private to "auflegen": l. Private to "aufregen": r.
"auflegen" · 8 letters · shape VVCCVCVC · "aufregen" · 8 letters · shape VVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "auflegen" and "aufregen" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "auflegen" or "aufregen"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "auflegen" and "aufregen" 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 "aufregen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,824,395 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "auflegen" and "aufregen" 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 #1,824,395 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.