auslachenvsausmachenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#32,427
“auslachen” frequency rank
#6,393
“ausmachen” frequency rank
38820
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature auslachen ausmachen
Definition sich über jemanden lustig machen, jemanden verspotten, indem man über ihn lacht ein Gerät (Lampe, Heizung, Elektrogerät etc.) abschalten, ein Feuer löschen

Where the eye mixes auslachen and ausmachen

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

9 ch
auslachen
9 ch
ausmachen

Look-alike desk: auslachen vs ausmachen

A purely visual mix-up. auslachen ([ˈaʊ̯sˌlaxn̩]) and ausmachen ([ˈaʊ̯sˌmaxn̩]) 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 - l in “auslachen” becomes m in “ausmachen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38820, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

auslachen is recorded at frequency rank #32,427, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯sˌlaxn̩]. ausmachen is at rank #6,393, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯sˌmaxn̩].

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 38820, this pair ranks #1,553,723 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of auslachen vs ausmachen

Shared letters: acehnsu. Private to "auslachen": l. Private to "ausmachen": m.

"auslachen" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVCCVC  ·  "ausmachen" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • auslachen ← asulachen · aulsachen · ausalchen · auslacchen · auslacehn · auslachenn · auslachhen · auslachne
  • ausmachen ← asumachen · aumsachen · ausamchen · ausmacchen · ausmacehn · ausmachenn · ausmachhen · ausmachne

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "auslachen" and "ausmachen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaʊ̯sˌlaxn̩] versus [ˈaʊ̯sˌmaxn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "auslachen" or "ausmachen" show up more?
"ausmachen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,393 in our German list, against #32,427 for "auslachen". 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 "auslachen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ausmachen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,553,723 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "auslachen" and "ausmachen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "auslachen vs Auslagen". 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 #1,553,723 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