auslebenvsAuslesenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ausleben is a verb, Auslesen is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ausleben” is a verb and “Auslesen” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,357
“ausleben” frequency rank
#31,942
“Auslesen” frequency rank
48299
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ausleben Auslesen
Definition eine Absicht in die Tat umsetzen und längere Zeit verwirklichen Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Auslese

Where the eye mixes ausleben and Auslesen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. ausleben and Auslesen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
ausleben
8 ch
Auslesen

Look-alike desk: ausleben vs Auslesen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ausleben is [ˈaʊ̯sˌleːbn̩] while Auslesen is [ˈaʊ̯sleːzn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - b in “ausleben” becomes s in “Auslesen”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48299, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ausleben is recorded at frequency rank #16,357, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯sˌleːbn̩]. Auslesen is at rank #31,942, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯sleːzn̩].

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 48299, this pair ranks #1,253,678 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ausleben vs Auslesen

Shared letters: aelnsu. Private to "ausleben": b. Private to "Auslesen": -.

"ausleben" · 8 letters · shape VVCCVCVC  ·  "Auslesen" · 8 letters · shape VVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ausleben ← asuleben · aulseben · auselben · auslbeen · auslebben · auslebenn · auslebne · ausleebn
  • Auslesen ← asulesen · aulsesen · auselsen · ausleesn · auslesenn · auslesne · auslessen · ausllesen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ausleben" for "Auslesen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ausleben" is a verb and "Auslesen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "ausleben" vs "Auslesen" - which ranks higher?
"ausleben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,357 in our German list, against #31,942 for "Auslesen". 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 "ausleben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Auslesen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,253,678 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ausleben" and "Auslesen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ausgelesen vs Auslesen". 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 #1,253,678 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