tagtvstannWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: tagt is a verb, tann is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tagt” is a verb and “tann” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,876
“tagt” frequency rank
#44,964
“tann” frequency rank
73840
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tagt tann
Definition 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs tagen der, die, das; dieser, diese, dieses

Where the eye mixes tagt and tann

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. tagt and tann follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
tagt
4 ch
tann

Why the eye confuses tagt with tann

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tagt is [taːkt] while tann is [tanː]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73840, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tagt is recorded at frequency rank #28,876, classified as averb, pronounced [taːkt]. tann is at rank #44,964, tagged as apron, pronounced [tanː].

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 73840, this pair ranks #349,546 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tagt vs tann

Shared letters: at. Private to "tagt": g. Private to "tann": n.

"tagt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "tann" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tagt ← atgt · taggt · tagtt · tatg · tgat · ttagt
  • tann ← atnn · tnan · ttann

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tagt" and "tann" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tagt" is a verb and "tann" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "tagt" or "tann" show up more?
"tagt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,876 in our German list, against #44,964 for "tann". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tagt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tann" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #349,546 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tagt" and "tann" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tann vs tine". 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 #349,546 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