taken vs tragen, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“taken” is an adjective and “tragen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,860
“taken” frequency rank: #786
“tragen” frequency rank: 43646
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	taken	tragen
Definition	Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs tak	etwas mit den Armen oder auf dem Rücken von einem Ort zu einem anderen Ort transportieren

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set taken and tragen apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

taken

6 ch

tragen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: taken is [ˈtakn̩] while tragen is [ˈtʁaːɡn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43646, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

taken is recorded at frequency rank #42,860, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈtakn̩]. tragen is at rank #786, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈtʁaːɡn̩].

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 43646, this pair ranks #1,411,429 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of taken vs tragen

Shared letters: aent. Private to "taken": k. Private to "tragen": gr.

"taken" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "tragen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

taken ← taekn · takenn · takken · tkaen · ttaken
tragen ← rtagen · targen · traegn · tragenn · traggen · tragne · trgaen · trragen

Frequency comparison

taken#42,860

tragen#786

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "taken" and "tragen" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "taken" is an adjective and "tragen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "taken" or "tragen"?

"tragen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #786 in our German list, against #42,860 for "taken". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering taken vs tragen

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “taken”; for a verb, it's “tragen”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “taken” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable