tannvsTunsWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#44,964
“tann” frequency rank
#44,983
“Tuns” frequency rank
89947
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tann Tuns
Definition der, die, das; dieser, diese, dieses Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Tun

Where the eye mixes tann and Tuns

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

4 ch
tann
4 ch
Tuns

Look-alike desk: tann vs Tuns

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tann is [tanː] while Tuns is [tuːns]. 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 (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 89947, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tann is recorded at frequency rank #44,964, classified as apron, pronounced [tanː]. Tuns is at rank #44,983, tagged as anoun, pronounced [tuːns].

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 89947, this pair ranks #51,965 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tann vs Tuns

Shared letters: nt. Private to "tann": a. Private to "Tuns": su.

"tann" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Tuns" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tann ← atnn · tnan · ttann
  • Tuns ← tnus · ttuns · tunns · tunss · tusn · utns

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tann" and "Tuns" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tann" is a pronoun and "Tuns" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "tann" or "Tuns" show up more?
"tann" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #44,964 in our German list, against #44,983 for "Tuns". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "tann" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Tuns" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #51,965 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tann" and "Tuns" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tine vs Tuns". 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 #51,965 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