aufwändigevsaufwendigWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#31,437
“aufwändige” frequency rank
#11,170
“aufwendig” frequency rank
42607
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aufwändige aufwendig
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs aufwändig mit großem Aufwand oder Einsatz verbunden

Where the eye mixes aufwändige and aufwendig

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. aufwändige runs 10 letters (VVCCVCCVCV) against aufwendig's 9 (VVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
aufwändige
9 ch
aufwendig

Look-alike desk: aufwändige vs aufwendig

A purely visual mix-up. aufwändige ([ˈaʊ̯fˌvɛndɪɡə]) and aufwendig ([ˈaʊ̯fˌvɛndɪç]) 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 42607, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aufwändige is recorded at frequency rank #31,437, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌvɛndɪɡə]. aufwendig is at rank #11,170, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌvɛndɪç].

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 42607, this pair ranks #1,444,158 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aufwändige vs aufwendig

Shared letters: adefginuw. Private to "aufwändige": ä. Private to "aufwendig": -.

"aufwändige" · 10 letters · shape VVCCVCCVCV  ·  "aufwendig" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aufwendig ← afuwendig · aufewndig · auffwendig · aufwednig · aufwenddig · aufwendgi · aufwendigg · aufwenidg

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "aufwändige" for "aufwendig" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaʊ̯fˌvɛndɪɡə] versus [ˈaʊ̯fˌvɛndɪç]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "aufwändige" vs "aufwendig" - which ranks higher?
"aufwendig" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,170 in our German list, against #31,437 for "aufwändige". 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 "aufwändige" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aufwendig" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,444,158 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aufwändige" and "aufwendig" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aufwändige vs aufwändiger". 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 #1,444,158 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