Which to use
“auftreten” and “austreten” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,485
- “auftreten” frequency rank
- #23,031
- “austreten” frequency rank
- 25516
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | auftreten | austreten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | in Erscheinung treten; sich (gelegentlich) ereignen | seinen Platz/Bereich die Grenze überschreitend verlassen; aus etwas heraustreten, herausströmen, hervorquellen |
Where the eye mixes auftreten and austreten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. auftreten and austreten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VVCCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between auftreten and austreten
A purely visual mix-up. auftreten ([ˈaʊ̯fˌtʁeːtn̩]) and austreten ([ˈaʊ̯sˌtʁeːtn̩]) 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 “auftreten” becomes s in “austreten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25516, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
auftreten is recorded at frequency rank #2,485, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌtʁeːtn̩]. austreten is at rank #23,031, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯sˌtʁeːtn̩].
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 25516, this pair ranks #1,832,087 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of auftreten vs austreten
Shared letters: aenrtu. Private to "auftreten": f. Private to "austreten": s.
"auftreten" · 9 letters · shape VVCCCVCVC · "austreten" · 9 letters · shape VVCCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "auftreten" and "austreten" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "auftreten" or "austreten" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "auftreten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "austreten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,832,087 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "auftreten" and "austreten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Auftretens vs austreten". 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 #1,832,087 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.