Siehe Wörterbuch: auslegung

Laut LEO ist es tatsächlich construction. To construe a contract = einen Vertrag auslegen; construction of a contrag = Auslegung eines Vertrags.

well, not as such.
There is always "construing" - looks a bit wonky.
Why don't you go back to your context and use one of the OED's meanings of "to construe", then turn that into a noun i.e. interpretation, combination, analysis or word-for-word translation.
Does that help at all?

I guess so:
construction: The interpretation or explanation given to an expression or a statement: I was inclined to put a favorable construction on his reply. (dictionary.com)

But I'm actually looking for a noun for the act of construing something, not the interpretation. Maybe I'll just use "construing" - thanks!

It really depends on the sense in which you are using the verb.

One sense is "to interpret in a particular way", hence "interpretation".

Cross-posting!

AHD, normally informative has the following:
http://www.bartleby.com/61/21/C0592100.html

INTRANSITIVE VERB:1. To analyze grammatical structure. 2. To be subject to grammatical analysis.
NOUN:(knstr) An interpretation or translation.

hth

AHD, normally informative has the following:
http://www.bartleby.com/61/21/C0592100.html

INTRANSITIVE VERB:1. To analyze grammatical structure. 2. To be subject to grammatical analysis.
NOUN:(knstr) An interpretation or translation.

which, as far as I can see, means that the noun form is the same: a construe

hth

sorry about the double posting.
here some examples freely googled:

A construe strategy is in fact a set of parameterized semantic objects that construe a given domain
http://66.249.93.104/search?q=cache:6QDO8pvr6..."a+construe"&hl=de&client=firefox-a

In Tom Brown's Schooldays, a construe was a translation from the Latin that some other, cleverer boy had prepared for you. Harry East defends the morality of the practice to Tom as a form of communal help:
http://www.dregston.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=sho...

It urges the Court to a construe the term "worker's job pool" consistently with the definition of that term found in the Workers' Compensation Act
http://wcc.dli.mt.gov/S/SMART_J_SJ.htm

awkward, but not impossible apparently

In linguistic the noun 'construal' is used to refer to something that is construed.

oops: obviously I meant in "linguistics"...

Academic English: construal

In social psychology, "construal" refers to the way in which people percieve, comprehend, and interpret the social world. "Construal" here is opposed to an actual "understanding" of objective reality. For example, while you may smile at me because you enjoy my presence (objective reality) I may contsrue your smile to be merely polite or even expressing superiority.

oops: perceive