aufteilenvsausteilenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#20,837
“aufteilen” frequency rank
#37,978
“austeilen” frequency rank
58815
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aufteilen austeilen
Definition etwas unter mehreren verteilen Gegenstände an mehrere Personen verteilen

Where the eye mixes aufteilen and austeilen

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

9 ch
aufteilen
9 ch
austeilen

Visual trap between aufteilen and austeilen

A purely visual mix-up. aufteilen ([ˈaʊ̯fˌtaɪ̯lən]) and austeilen ([ˈaʊ̯sˌtaɪ̯lən]) 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 “aufteilen” becomes s in “austeilen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58815, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aufteilen is recorded at frequency rank #20,837, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌtaɪ̯lən]. austeilen is at rank #37,978, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯sˌtaɪ̯lən].

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 58815, this pair ranks #848,277 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aufteilen vs austeilen

Shared letters: aeilntu. Private to "aufteilen": f. Private to "austeilen": s.

"aufteilen" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVVCVC  ·  "austeilen" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aufteilen ← afuteilen · aufetilen · auffteilen · aufteieln · aufteilenn · aufteillen · aufteilne · auftelien
  • austeilen ← asuteilen · ausetilen · aussteilen · austeieln · austeilenn · austeillen · austeilne · austelien

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aufteilen" and "austeilen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaʊ̯fˌtaɪ̯lən] versus [ˈaʊ̯sˌtaɪ̯lən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "aufteilen" or "austeilen"?
"aufteilen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,837 in our German list, against #37,978 for "austeilen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "aufteilen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "austeilen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #848,277 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aufteilen" and "austeilen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "austeilen vs austreiben". 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 #848,277 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