Which to use
“auflegen” and “auslegen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,511
- “auflegen” frequency rank
- #22,261
- “auslegen” frequency rank
- 39772
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | auflegen | auslegen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | etwas auf etwas liegend positionieren | eine Fläche mehr oder weniger lückenlos mit flächigen Teilen bedecken |
Where the eye mixes auflegen and auslegen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. auflegen and auslegen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between auflegen and auslegen
A purely visual mix-up. auflegen ([ˈaʊ̯fˌleːɡn̩]) and auslegen ([ˈaʊ̯sˌleːɡn̩]) 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 - f in “auflegen” becomes s in “auslegen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39772, 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]. auslegen is at rank #22,261, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯sˌleːɡn̩].
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 39772, this pair ranks #1,527,337 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of auflegen vs auslegen
Shared letters: aeglnu. Private to "auflegen": f. Private to "auslegen": s.
"auflegen" · 8 letters · shape VVCCVCVC · "auslegen" · 8 letters · shape VVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "auflegen" and "auslegen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "auflegen" or "auslegen" show up more?
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 "auslegen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,527,337 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "auflegen" and "auslegen" 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 #1,527,337 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.