aufzugebenvsauszulebenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#10,422
“aufzugeben” frequency rank
#43,034
“auszuleben” frequency rank
53456
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aufzugeben auszuleben
Definition erweiterter Infinitiv Aktiv des Verbs aufgeben erweiterter Infinitiv Aktiv des Verbs ausleben

Where the eye mixes aufzugeben and auszuleben

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

10 ch
aufzugeben
10 ch
auszuleben

Visual trap between aufzugeben and auszuleben

A purely visual mix-up. aufzugeben ([ˈaʊ̯ft͡suˌɡeːbn̩]) and auszuleben ([ˈaʊ̯st͡suˌleːbn̩]) 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 53456, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aufzugeben is recorded at frequency rank #10,422, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯ft͡suˌɡeːbn̩]. auszuleben is at rank #43,034, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯st͡suˌleːbn̩].

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 53456, this pair ranks #1,057,240 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aufzugeben vs auszuleben

Shared letters: abenuz. Private to "aufzugeben": fg. Private to "auszuleben": ls.

"aufzugeben" · 10 letters · shape VVCCVCVCVC  ·  "auszuleben" · 10 letters · shape VVCCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aufzugebenafuzugeben · auffzugeben · aufuzgeben · aufzgueben · aufzuegben · aufzugbeen · aufzugebben · aufzugebenn
  • auszulebenasuzuleben · ausszuleben · ausuzleben · auszlueben · auszuelben · auszulbeen · auszulebben · auszulebenn

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aufzugeben" and "auszuleben" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaʊ̯ft͡suˌɡeːbn̩] versus [ˈaʊ̯st͡suˌleːbn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "aufzugeben" or "auszuleben" show up more?
"aufzugeben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,422 in our German list, against #43,034 for "auszuleben". 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 "aufzugeben" and "auszuleben" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "aufzugeben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "auszuleben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,057,240 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aufzugeben" and "auszuleben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "auszuleben vs auszulegen". 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 #1,057,240 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