aufzuhebenvsauszugebenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#19,136
“aufzuheben” frequency rank
#15,825
“auszugeben” frequency rank
34961
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aufzuheben auszugeben
Definition erweiterter Infinitiv Aktiv des Verbs aufheben erweiterter Infinitiv Aktiv des Verbs ausgeben

Where the eye mixes aufzuheben and auszugeben

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

10 ch
aufzuheben
10 ch
auszugeben

Visual trap between aufzuheben and auszugeben

A purely visual mix-up. aufzuheben ([ˈaʊ̯ft͡suˌheːbn̩]) and auszugeben ([ˈaʊ̯st͡suˌɡeːbn̩]) 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 34961, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aufzuheben is recorded at frequency rank #19,136, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯ft͡suˌheːbn̩]. auszugeben is at rank #15,825, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯st͡suˌɡeːbn̩].

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 34961, this pair ranks #1,651,303 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of aufzuheben vs auszugeben

Shared letters: abenuz. Private to "aufzuheben": fh. Private to "auszugeben": gs.

"aufzuheben" · 10 letters · shape VVCCVCVCVC  ·  "auszugeben" · 10 letters · shape VVCCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aufzuhebenafuzuheben · auffzuheben · aufuzheben · aufzhueben · aufzuehben · aufzuhbeen · aufzuhebben · aufzuhebenn
  • auszugebenasuzugeben · ausszugeben · ausuzgeben · auszgueben · auszuegben · auszugbeen · auszugebben · auszugebenn

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "aufzuheben" and "auszugeben" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaʊ̯ft͡suˌheːbn̩] versus [ˈaʊ̯st͡suˌɡeːbn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "aufzuheben" or "auszugeben" show up more?
"auszugeben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,825 in our German list, against #19,136 for "aufzuheben". 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 "aufzuheben" and "auszugeben" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "aufzuheben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "auszugeben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,651,303 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aufzuheben" and "auszugeben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aufzuheben vs aufzuholen". 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 #1,651,303 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