aufregenvsauftretenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#8,512
“aufregen” frequency rank
#2,485
“auftreten” frequency rank
10997
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aufregen auftreten
Definition jemanden erregen, unruhig machen in Erscheinung treten; sich (gelegentlich) ereignen

Where the eye mixes aufregen and auftreten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
aufregen
9 ch
auftreten

Look-alike desk: aufregen vs auftreten

A purely visual mix-up. aufregen ([ˈaʊ̯fˌʁeːɡn̩]) and auftreten ([ˈaʊ̯fˌtʁeːtn̩]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10997, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aufregen is recorded at frequency rank #8,512, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌʁeːɡn̩]. auftreten is at rank #2,485, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌtʁeːtn̩].

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 10997, this pair ranks #1,972,231 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of aufregen vs auftreten

Shared letters: aefnru. Private to "aufregen": g. Private to "auftreten": t.

"aufregen" · 8 letters · shape VVCCVCVC  ·  "auftreten" · 9 letters · shape VVCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aufregenafuregen · aufergen · auffregen · aufreegn · aufregenn · aufreggen · aufregne · aufrgeen
  • auftretenafutreten · aufftreten · aufrteten · aufterten · auftreetn · auftretenn · auftretne · auftretten

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "aufregen" and "auftreten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaʊ̯fˌʁeːɡn̩] versus [ˈaʊ̯fˌtʁeːtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "aufregen" or "auftreten" show up more?
"auftreten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,485 in our German list, against #8,512 for "aufregen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "aufregen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "auftreten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,972,231 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aufregen" and "auftreten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aufregen 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 #1,972,231 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