ausdehnenvsausdenkenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#29,481
“ausdehnen” frequency rank
#12,025
“ausdenken” frequency rank
41506
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ausdehnen ausdenken
Definition die Länge, Fläche oder das Volumen einer Sache vergrößern sich etwas Neues überlegen

Where the eye mixes ausdehnen and ausdenken

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

9 ch
ausdehnen
9 ch
ausdenken

Why the eye confuses ausdehnen with ausdenken

A purely visual mix-up. ausdehnen ([ˈaʊ̯sˌdeːnən]) and ausdenken ([ˈaʊ̯sˌdɛŋkn̩]) 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 41506, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ausdehnen is recorded at frequency rank #29,481, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯sˌdeːnən]. ausdenken is at rank #12,025, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯sˌdɛŋkn̩].

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 41506, this pair ranks #1,477,388 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ausdehnen vs ausdenken

Shared letters: adensu. Private to "ausdehnen": h. Private to "ausdenken": k.

"ausdehnen" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVCCVC  ·  "ausdenken" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ausdehnen ← asudehnen · audsehnen · ausddehnen · ausdehenn · ausdehhnen · ausdehnenn · ausdehnne · ausdehnnen
  • ausdenken ← asudenken · audsenken · ausddenken · ausdeknen · ausdenekn · ausdenkenn · ausdenkken · ausdenkne

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ausdehnen" and "ausdenken" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaʊ̯sˌdeːnən] versus [ˈaʊ̯sˌdɛŋkn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ausdehnen" or "ausdenken"?
"ausdenken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,025 in our German list, against #29,481 for "ausdehnen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ausdehnen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ausdenken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,477,388 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ausdehnen" and "ausdenken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ausdehnen vs auszudehnen". 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 #1,477,388 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