aufzumachenvsauszumachenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#30,925
“aufzumachen” frequency rank
#20,513
“auszumachen” frequency rank
51438
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aufzumachen auszumachen
Definition erweiterter Infinitiv Aktiv des Verbs aufmachen erweiterter Infinitiv Aktiv des Verbs ausmachen

Where the eye mixes aufzumachen and auszumachen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. aufzumachen and auszumachen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VVCCVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

11 ch
aufzumachen
11 ch
auszumachen

Look-alike desk: aufzumachen vs auszumachen

A purely visual mix-up. aufzumachen ([ˈaʊ̯ft͡suˌmaxn̩]) and auszumachen ([ˈaʊ̯st͡suˌmaxn̩]) 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 “aufzumachen” becomes s in “auszumachen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51438, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aufzumachen is recorded at frequency rank #30,925, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯ft͡suˌmaxn̩]. auszumachen is at rank #20,513, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯st͡suˌmaxn̩].

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 51438, this pair ranks #1,135,546 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aufzumachen vs auszumachen

Shared letters: acehmnuz. Private to "aufzumachen": f. Private to "auszumachen": s.

"aufzumachen" · 11 letters · shape VVCCVCVCCVC  ·  "auszumachen" · 11 letters · shape VVCCVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aufzumachen ← afuzumachen · auffzumachen · aufuzmachen · aufzmuachen · aufzuamchen · aufzumacchen · aufzumacehn · aufzumachenn
  • auszumachen ← asuzumachen · ausszumachen · ausuzmachen · auszmuachen · auszuamchen · auszumacchen · auszumacehn · auszumachenn

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "aufzumachen" and "auszumachen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaʊ̯ft͡suˌmaxn̩] versus [ˈaʊ̯st͡suˌmaxn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "aufzumachen" or "auszumachen"?
"auszumachen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,513 in our German list, against #30,925 for "aufzumachen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "aufzumachen" and "auszumachen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "aufzumachen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "auszumachen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,135,546 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aufzumachen" and "auszumachen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aufzumachen vs aufzuwachen". 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 #1,135,546 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