ausdehnenvsauszudehnenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#29,481
“ausdehnen” frequency rank
#39,818
“auszudehnen” frequency rank
69299
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ausdehnen auszudehnen
Definition die Länge, Fläche oder das Volumen einer Sache vergrößern erweiterter Infinitiv Aktiv des Verbs ausdehnen

Where the eye mixes ausdehnen and auszudehnen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. ausdehnen runs 9 letters (VVCCVCCVC) against auszudehnen's 11 (VVCCVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
ausdehnen
11 ch
auszudehnen

Visual trap between ausdehnen and auszudehnen

A purely visual mix-up. ausdehnen ([ˈaʊ̯sˌdeːnən]) and auszudehnen ([ˈaʊ̯st͡suˌdeːnən]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69299, 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]. auszudehnen is at rank #39,818, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯st͡suˌdeːnən].

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 69299, this pair ranks #480,834 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ausdehnen vs auszudehnen

Shared letters: adehnsu. Private to "ausdehnen": -. Private to "auszudehnen": z.

"ausdehnen" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVCCVC  ·  "auszudehnen" · 11 letters · shape VVCCVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ausdehnen ← asudehnen · audsehnen · ausddehnen · ausdehenn · ausdehhnen · ausdehnenn · ausdehnne · ausdehnnen
  • auszudehnen ← asuzudehnen · ausszudehnen · ausuzdehnen · auszduehnen · auszuddehnen · auszudehenn · auszudehhnen · auszudehnenn

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ausdehnen" and "auszudehnen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaʊ̯sˌdeːnən] versus [ˈaʊ̯st͡suˌdeːnən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "ausdehnen" or "auszudehnen" show up more?
"ausdehnen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,481 in our German list, against #39,818 for "auszudehnen". 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 "ausdehnen" and "auszudehnen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ausdehnen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "auszudehnen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #480,834 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ausdehnen" and "auszudehnen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "auszudehnen vs auszudenken". 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 #480,834 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