AuserwähltevsausgewählteTell them apart

Quick tell: Auserwählte is a noun, ausgewählte is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Auserwählte” is a noun and “ausgewählte” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,392
“Auserwählte” frequency rank
#8,024
“ausgewählte” frequency rank
48416
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Auserwählte ausgewählte
Definition eine Frau, die auserkoren, auserwählt wurde, etwas Bestimmtes zu vollbringen Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs ausgewählt

Where the eye mixes Auserwählte and ausgewählte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. Auserwählte (VVCVCCVCCCV) and ausgewählte (VVCCVCVCCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

11 ch
Auserwählte
11 ch
ausgewählte

Why the eye confuses Auserwählte with ausgewählte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Auserwählte is [ˈaʊ̯sʔɛɐ̯ˌvɛːltə] while ausgewählte is [ˈaʊ̯sɡəˌvɛːltə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48416, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Auserwählte is recorded at frequency rank #40,392, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯sʔɛɐ̯ˌvɛːltə]. ausgewählte is at rank #8,024, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯sɡəˌvɛːltə].

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 48416, this pair ranks #1,249,371 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Auserwählte vs ausgewählte

Shared letters: aehlstuwä. Private to "Auserwählte": r. Private to "ausgewählte": g.

"Auserwählte" · 11 letters · shape VVCVCCVCCCV  ·  "ausgewählte" · 11 letters · shape VVCCVCVCCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Auserwählte" for "ausgewählte" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Auserwählte" is a noun and "ausgewählte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Auserwählte" or "ausgewählte" show up more?
"ausgewählte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,024 in our German list, against #40,392 for "Auserwählte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Auserwählte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ausgewählte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,249,371 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Auserwählte" and "ausgewählte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "auserwählt vs Auserwählte". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,249,371 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