auflegenvsAusflügenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: auflegen is a verb, Ausflügen is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“auflegen” is a verb and “Ausflügen” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,511
“auflegen” frequency rank
#36,805
“Ausflügen” frequency rank
54316
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature auflegen Ausflügen
Definition etwas auf etwas liegend positionieren Dativ Plural des Substantivs Ausflug

Where the eye mixes auflegen and Ausflügen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. auflegen runs 8 letters (VVCCVCVC) against Ausflügen's 9 (VVCCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
auflegen
9 ch
Ausflügen

Visual trap between auflegen and Ausflügen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: auflegen is [ˈaʊ̯fˌleːɡn̩] while Ausflügen is [ˈaʊ̯sˌflyːɡn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54316, 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]. Ausflügen is at rank #36,805, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯sˌflyːɡn̩].

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 54316, this pair ranks #1,023,631 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of auflegen vs Ausflügen

Shared letters: aefglnu. Private to "auflegen": -. Private to "Ausflügen": sü.

"auflegen" · 8 letters · shape VVCCVCVC  ·  "Ausflügen" · 9 letters · shape VVCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "auflegen" for "Ausflügen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "auflegen" is a verb and "Ausflügen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "auflegen" or "Ausflügen" show up more?
"auflegen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,511 in our German list, against #36,805 for "Ausflügen". 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 "auflegen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Ausflügen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,023,631 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "auflegen" and "Ausflügen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Aufzügen vs Ausflügen". 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 #1,023,631 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