auslegenvsaussagenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#22,261
“auslegen” frequency rank
#2,050
“aussagen” frequency rank
24311
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature auslegen aussagen
Definition eine Fläche mehr oder weniger lückenlos mit flächigen Teilen bedecken etwas mit Bestimmtheit sagen

Where the eye mixes auslegen and aussagen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
auslegen
8 ch
aussagen

Look-alike desk: auslegen vs aussagen

A purely visual mix-up. auslegen ([ˈaʊ̯sˌleːɡn̩]) and aussagen ([ˈaʊ̯sˌzaːɡn̩]) 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 24311, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

auslegen is recorded at frequency rank #22,261, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯sˌleːɡn̩]. aussagen is at rank #2,050, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯sˌzaːɡn̩].

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 24311, this pair ranks #1,849,405 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of auslegen vs aussagen

Shared letters: aegnsu. Private to "auslegen": l. Private to "aussagen": -.

"auslegen" · 8 letters · shape VVCCVCVC  ·  "aussagen" · 8 letters · shape VVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • auslegenasulegen · aulsegen · auselgen · ausleegn · auslegenn · ausleggen · auslegne · auslgeen
  • aussagenasusagen · ausagen · ausasgen · aussaegn · aussagenn · aussaggen · aussagne · aussgaen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "auslegen" and "aussagen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaʊ̯sˌleːɡn̩] versus [ˈaʊ̯sˌzaːɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "auslegen" or "aussagen" show up more?
"aussagen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,050 in our German list, against #22,261 for "auslegen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "auslegen" and "aussagen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "auslegen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aussagen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,849,405 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "auslegen" and "aussagen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Auslagen vs auslegen". 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 #1,849,405 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