aussehenvsaussehendWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,408
“aussehen” frequency rank
#43,729
“aussehend” frequency rank
45137
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aussehen aussehend
Definition ein Bild nach außen abgeben Partizip Präsens des Verbs aussehen

Where the eye mixes aussehen and aussehend

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. aussehen runs 8 letters (VVCCVCVC) against aussehend's 9 (VVCCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
aussehen
9 ch
aussehend

Why the eye confuses aussehen with aussehend

A purely visual mix-up. aussehen ([ˈaʊ̯sˌz̥eːən]) and aussehend ([ˈaʊ̯sˌz̥eːənt]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “aussehen” sits inside “aussehend”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45137, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aussehen is recorded at frequency rank #1,408, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯sˌz̥eːən]. aussehend is at rank #43,729, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯sˌz̥eːənt].

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 45137, this pair ranks #1,363,209 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aussehen vs aussehend

Shared letters: aehnsu. Private to "aussehen": -. Private to "aussehend": d.

"aussehen" · 8 letters · shape VVCCVCVC  ·  "aussehend" · 9 letters · shape VVCCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aussehenasusehen · ausehen · auseshen · ausseehn · aussehenn · aussehhen · aussehne · aussheen
  • aussehendasusehend · ausehend · auseshend · ausseehnd · aussehedn · aussehendd · aussehennd · aussehhend

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "aussehen" and "aussehend" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaʊ̯sˌz̥eːən] versus [ˈaʊ̯sˌz̥eːənt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "aussehen" or "aussehend" show up more?
"aussehen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,408 in our German list, against #43,729 for "aussehend". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "aussehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aussehend" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,363,209 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aussehen" and "aussehend" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aussehend vs aussehender". 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 #1,363,209 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