ausmachenvsauspackenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,393
“ausmachen” frequency rank
#16,640
“auspacken” frequency rank
23033
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ausmachen auspacken
Definition ein Gerät (Lampe, Heizung, Elektrogerät etc.) abschalten, ein Feuer löschen etwas, das eingepackt ist, aus der Verpackung nehmen

Where the eye mixes ausmachen and auspacken

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

9 ch
ausmachen
9 ch
auspacken

Look-alike desk: ausmachen vs auspacken

A purely visual mix-up. ausmachen ([ˈaʊ̯sˌmaxn̩]) and auspacken ([ˈaʊ̯sˌpakn̩]) 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 23033, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ausmachen is recorded at frequency rank #6,393, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯sˌmaxn̩]. auspacken is at rank #16,640, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯sˌpakn̩].

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 23033, this pair ranks #1,866,624 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ausmachen vs auspacken

Shared letters: acensu. Private to "ausmachen": hm. Private to "auspacken": kp.

"ausmachen" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVCCVC  ·  "auspacken" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ausmachen ← asumachen · aumsachen · ausamchen · ausmacchen · ausmacehn · ausmachenn · ausmachhen · ausmachne
  • auspacken ← asupacken · aupsacken · ausapcken · auspaccken · auspacekn · auspackenn · auspackken · auspackne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ausmachen" for "auspacken" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaʊ̯sˌmaxn̩] versus [ˈaʊ̯sˌpakn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ausmachen" vs "auspacken" - which ranks higher?
"ausmachen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,393 in our German list, against #16,640 for "auspacken". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ausmachen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "auspacken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,866,624 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ausmachen" and "auspacken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "auspacken vs ausrücken". 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 #1,866,624 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