Deutsch homophones
TAN/tann/Than
"TAN" is a noun; "tann" is a pronoun - grammar picks the spelling, not sound. Size rank #5 of 483 German groups.
Data vintage
Grammar picks the spelling
Same sound, different grammar: "TAN" arrives as a noun, while "tann" is a pronoun. Once the sentence role is fixed, only one spelling fits.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "tan" then splits - "TAN" (3 letters) vs "tann" (4).
- No shared spelling stem: "TAN" is 3 letters, "Than" is 4; only the sound ties them.
- No shared spelling stem: "tann" is 4 letters, "Than" is 4; only the sound ties them.
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across TAN, tann, Than: ant. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
TAN
3 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVC
Inventory ant · no private letters vs siblings
tann
4 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVCC
Inventory ant · no private letters vs siblings
Than
4 letters · 1 vowels · shape CCVC
Inventory ahnt · private h
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "TAN" when you mean: Transaktionsnummer
- Write "tann" when you mean: der, die, das; dieser, diese, dieses
- Write "Than" when you mean: Gefolgsmann des Königs oder eines Fürsten bei den Angelsachsen; seit dem 10. Jahrhundert erblicher Großgrundbesitzer
Known mistypes of these spellings
Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.