aufnehmenvsausnehmenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,532
“aufnehmen” frequency rank
#34,527
“ausnehmen” frequency rank
37059
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aufnehmen ausnehmen
Definition etwas aufheben, an sich nehmen oder zu sich nehmen Eingeweide eines getöteten Tieres entfernen

Where the eye mixes aufnehmen and ausnehmen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. aufnehmen and ausnehmen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VVCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
aufnehmen
9 ch
ausnehmen

Visual trap between aufnehmen and ausnehmen

A purely visual mix-up. aufnehmen ([ˈaʊ̯fˌneːmən]) and ausnehmen ([ˈaʊ̯sˌneːmən]) 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 “aufnehmen” becomes s in “ausnehmen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37059, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aufnehmen is recorded at frequency rank #2,532, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌneːmən]. ausnehmen is at rank #34,527, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯sˌneːmən].

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 37059, this pair ranks #1,599,844 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of aufnehmen vs ausnehmen

Shared letters: aehmnu. Private to "aufnehmen": f. Private to "ausnehmen": s.

"aufnehmen" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVCCVC  ·  "ausnehmen" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aufnehmen ← afunehmen · aufenhmen · auffnehmen · aufnehemn · aufnehhmen · aufnehmenn · aufnehmmen · aufnehmne
  • ausnehmen ← asunehmen · aunsehmen · ausenhmen · ausnehemn · ausnehhmen · ausnehmenn · ausnehmmen · ausnehmne

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "aufnehmen" and "ausnehmen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaʊ̯fˌneːmən] versus [ˈaʊ̯sˌneːmən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "aufnehmen" vs "ausnehmen" - which ranks higher?
"aufnehmen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,532 in our German list, against #34,527 for "ausnehmen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "aufnehmen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ausnehmen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,599,844 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aufnehmen" and "ausnehmen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ausdehnen vs ausnehmen". 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 #1,599,844 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