aufschreibenvsausschreibenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#21,168
“aufschreiben” frequency rank
#36,201
“ausschreiben” frequency rank
57369
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aufschreiben ausschreiben
Definition etwas schriftlich festhalten_([4]), niederschreiben, notieren, vermerken ein Wort mit allen Buchstaben, nicht abgekürzt schreiben

Where the eye mixes aufschreiben and ausschreiben

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence. aufschreiben and ausschreiben follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VVCCCCCVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

12 ch
aufschreiben
12 ch
ausschreiben

Look-alike desk: aufschreiben vs ausschreiben

A purely visual mix-up. aufschreiben ([ˈaʊ̯fˌʃʁaɪ̯bn̩]) and ausschreiben ([ˈaʊ̯sˌʃʁaɪ̯bn̩]) 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 “aufschreiben” becomes s in “ausschreiben”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57369, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aufschreiben is recorded at frequency rank #21,168, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌʃʁaɪ̯bn̩]. ausschreiben is at rank #36,201, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯sˌʃʁaɪ̯bn̩].

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 57369, this pair ranks #904,022 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aufschreiben vs ausschreiben

Shared letters: abcehinrsu. Private to "aufschreiben": f. Private to "ausschreiben": -.

"aufschreiben" · 12 letters · shape VVCCCCCVVCVC  ·  "ausschreiben" · 12 letters · shape VVCCCCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aufschreiben ← afuschreiben · aufcshreiben · auffschreiben · aufscchreiben · aufscheriben · aufschhreiben · aufschrebien · aufschreibben
  • ausschreiben ← asuschreiben · auschreiben · auscshreiben · ausscchreiben · ausscheriben · ausschhreiben · ausschrebien · ausschreibben

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "aufschreiben" and "ausschreiben" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaʊ̯fˌʃʁaɪ̯bn̩] versus [ˈaʊ̯sˌʃʁaɪ̯bn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "aufschreiben" vs "ausschreiben" - which ranks higher?
"aufschreiben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,168 in our German list, against #36,201 for "ausschreiben". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "aufschreiben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ausschreiben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #904,022 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aufschreiben" and "ausschreiben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aufschieben vs aufschreiben". 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 #904,022 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