ausspielenvsauszuspielenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#25,053
“ausspielen” frequency rank
#40,401
“auszuspielen” frequency rank
65454
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ausspielen auszuspielen
Definition sein Spiel mit jemandem treiben, ihn austricksen, hintergehen, täuschen, überlisten erweiterter Infinitiv Aktiv des Verbs ausspielen

Where the eye mixes ausspielen and auszuspielen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. ausspielen runs 10 letters (VVCCCVVCVC) against auszuspielen's 12 (VVCCVCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
ausspielen
12 ch
auszuspielen

Visual trap between ausspielen and auszuspielen

A purely visual mix-up. ausspielen ([ˈaʊ̯sˌʃpiːlən]) and auszuspielen ([ˈaʊ̯st͡suˌʃpiːlən]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65454, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ausspielen is recorded at frequency rank #25,053, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯sˌʃpiːlən]. auszuspielen is at rank #40,401, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯st͡suˌʃpiːlən].

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 65454, this pair ranks #606,377 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ausspielen vs auszuspielen

Shared letters: aeilnpsu. Private to "ausspielen": -. Private to "auszuspielen": z.

"ausspielen" · 10 letters · shape VVCCCVVCVC  ·  "auszuspielen" · 12 letters · shape VVCCVCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ausspielen ← asuspielen · auspielen · auspsielen · aussipelen · ausspeilen · ausspieeln · ausspielenn · ausspiellen
  • auszuspielen ← asuzuspielen · ausszuspielen · ausuzspielen · auszsupielen · auszupsielen · auszusipelen · auszuspeilen · auszuspieeln

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ausspielen" for "auszuspielen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaʊ̯sˌʃpiːlən] versus [ˈaʊ̯st͡suˌʃpiːlən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ausspielen" or "auszuspielen"?
"ausspielen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,053 in our German list, against #40,401 for "auszuspielen". 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 "ausspielen" and "auszuspielen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ausspielen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "auszuspielen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #606,377 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ausspielen" and "auszuspielen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "anspielen vs ausspielen". 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 #606,377 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