aufweisenvsaufzeigenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,390
“aufweisen” frequency rank
#12,234
“aufzeigen” frequency rank
18624
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aufweisen aufzeigen
Definition etwas als Merkmal haben sich melden; mit dem Finger nach oben zeigen

Where the eye mixes aufweisen and aufzeigen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. aufweisen and aufzeigen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VVCCVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
aufweisen
9 ch
aufzeigen

Visual trap between aufweisen and aufzeigen

A purely visual mix-up. aufweisen ([ˈaʊ̯fˌvaɪ̯zn̩]) and aufzeigen ([ˈaʊ̯fˌt͡saɪ̯ɡn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18624, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aufweisen is recorded at frequency rank #6,390, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌvaɪ̯zn̩]. aufzeigen is at rank #12,234, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌt͡saɪ̯ɡn̩].

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 18624, this pair ranks #1,916,474 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of aufweisen vs aufzeigen

Shared letters: aefinu. Private to "aufweisen": sw. Private to "aufzeigen": gz.

"aufweisen" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVVCVC  ·  "aufzeigen" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aufweisenafuweisen · aufewisen · auffweisen · aufweiesn · aufweisenn · aufweisne · aufweissen · aufwesien
  • aufzeigenafuzeigen · aufezigen · auffzeigen · aufzegien · aufzeiegn · aufzeigenn · aufzeiggen · aufzeigne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "aufweisen" for "aufzeigen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaʊ̯fˌvaɪ̯zn̩] versus [ˈaʊ̯fˌt͡saɪ̯ɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "aufweisen" vs "aufzeigen" - which ranks higher?
"aufweisen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,390 in our German list, against #12,234 for "aufzeigen". 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 "aufweisen" and "aufzeigen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "aufweisen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aufzeigen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,916,474 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aufweisen" and "aufzeigen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aufzeigen 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 #1,916,474 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