auszugebenvsauszulegenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#15,825
“auszugeben” frequency rank
#31,445
“auszulegen” frequency rank
47270
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature auszugeben auszulegen
Definition erweiterter Infinitiv Aktiv des Verbs ausgeben erweiterter Infinitiv Aktiv des Verbs auslegen

Where the eye mixes auszugeben and auszulegen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. auszugeben and auszulegen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VVCCVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

10 ch
auszugeben
10 ch
auszulegen

Why the eye confuses auszugeben with auszulegen

A purely visual mix-up. auszugeben ([ˈaʊ̯st͡suˌɡeːbn̩]) and auszulegen ([ˈaʊ̯st͡suˌleːɡn̩]) 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 47270, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

auszugeben is recorded at frequency rank #15,825, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯st͡suˌɡeːbn̩]. auszulegen is at rank #31,445, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯st͡suˌleːɡn̩].

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 47270, this pair ranks #1,290,237 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of auszugeben vs auszulegen

Shared letters: aegnsuz. Private to "auszugeben": b. Private to "auszulegen": l.

"auszugeben" · 10 letters · shape VVCCVCVCVC  ·  "auszulegen" · 10 letters · shape VVCCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • auszugebenasuzugeben · ausszugeben · ausuzgeben · auszgueben · auszuegben · auszugbeen · auszugebben · auszugebenn
  • auszulegenasuzulegen · ausszulegen · ausuzlegen · auszluegen · auszuelgen · auszuleegn · auszulegenn · auszuleggen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "auszugeben" and "auszulegen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaʊ̯st͡suˌɡeːbn̩] versus [ˈaʊ̯st͡suˌleːɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "auszugeben" or "auszulegen"?
"auszugeben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,825 in our German list, against #31,445 for "auszulegen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "auszugeben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "auszulegen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,290,237 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "auszugeben" and "auszulegen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "auszulegen vs auszusagen". 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 #1,290,237 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