ausspähen

[ˈaʊ̯sˌʃpɛːən]

/[ˈaʊ̯sˌʃpɛːən]/ verb

The verdict

“ausspähen” is uncommon German (frequency #63,131 among 6,976 “A” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#63,131
frequency rank, German
6,976
“A” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - jemanden oder etwas beobachten, um Information zu gewinnen

Corpus desk

Index DE-ausspahen · ausspähen · German

ausspähen · rank #63,131 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #63,131
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,976
  • PHOTO-FINISH Auswüchsen

Nearest frequency peer: Auswüchsen (+1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Langschwanz-Ränge nahe „ausspähen“

Dünnes Band: Balken invertieren den Rang, seltenere Formen wirken kürzer

corpus weight

What this shows Langschwanz-Sicht: wo „ausspähen“ gegen ähnlich seltene deutsche Ränge sitzt.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for ausspähen
PropertyValue
Headwordausspähen
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ˈaʊ̯sˌʃpɛːən]
Letters9
Frequency rank#63,131
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „ausspähen“ im Deutschen

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).ausspähenfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Auswüchsen“ (#63,132), „Ausrüstungsgegenstände“ (#63,129), „auszählen“ (#63,133). Unter 6,976 „A“-Lemmata liegt „ausspähen“ bei #63,131. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

ausspähen is uncommon German at frequency #63,131 among 6,976 “A” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [ˈaʊ̯sˌʃpɛːən]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for ausspähen, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct German form is ausspähen, spelled A-U-S-S-P-Ä-H-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    jemanden oder etwas beobachten, um Information zu gewinnen
  2. 2
    suchend schauen, ob man etwas Erwartetes sehen kann

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how ausspähen appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Abends spähten die beiden aus, wie man am besten ungesehen zur Garage kommen könnte.
  2. Die hat sogar die Bankkonten der eigenen Eltern ausgespäht!

Antonyms

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "ausspähen"?
"ausspähen" is spelled A-U-S-S-P-Ä-H-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈaʊ̯sˌʃpɛːən].
What does "ausspähen" mean?
As a verb, "ausspähen" means: jemanden oder etwas beobachten, um Information zu gewinnen
How do you pronounce "ausspähen"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ausspähen" is [ˈaʊ̯sˌʃpɛːən]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "ausspähen" come from?
"ausspähen" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ausspähen", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list