tagtevstautTell them apart

Which to use

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

#33,331
“tagte” frequency rank
#49,293
“taut” frequency rank
82624
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tagte taut
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs tagen 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs tauen

Where the eye mixes tagte and taut

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. tagte runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against taut's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
tagte
4 ch
taut

Why the eye confuses tagte with taut

A purely visual mix-up. tagte ([ˈtaːktə]) and taut ([taʊ̯t]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82624, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tagte is recorded at frequency rank #33,331, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈtaːktə]. taut is at rank #49,293, tagged as averb, pronounced [taʊ̯t].

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 82624, this pair ranks #153,905 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tagte vs taut

Shared letters: at. Private to "tagte": eg. Private to "taut": u.

"tagte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "taut" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tagte ← atgte · taget · taggte · tagtte · tatge · tgate · ttagte
  • taut ← atut · tatu · tautt · ttaut · tuat

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tagte" and "taut" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈtaːktə] versus [taʊ̯t]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tagte" or "taut"?
"tagte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,331 in our German list, against #49,293 for "taut". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "tagte" and "taut" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tagte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "taut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #153,905 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tagte" and "taut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Taft vs taut". 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 #153,905 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