tanzevstineWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: tanze is a verb, tine is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tanze” is a verb and “tine” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#24,948
“tanze” frequency rank
#49,303
“tine” frequency rank
74251
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tanze tine
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs tanzen Feuer

Letter map: tanze vs tine

Shared letters muted; letters that set tanze and tine apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. tanze runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against tine's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
tanze
4 ch
tine

Grammar separator: tanze vs tine

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tanze is averb and tineanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74251, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tanze is recorded at frequency rank #24,948, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈtant͡sə]. tine is at rank #49,303, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 74251, this pair ranks #338,408 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tanze vs tine

Shared letters: ent. Private to "tanze": az. Private to "tine": i.

"tanze" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "tine" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tanze ← atnze · tanez · tannze · tanzze · tazne · tnaze · ttanze
  • tine ← itne · tien · tinne · tnie · ttine

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tanze" and "tine" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tanze" is a verb and "tine" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "tanze" vs "tine" - which ranks higher?
"tanze" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,948 in our German list, against #49,303 for "tine". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "tanze" and "tine".

  • Full dictionary entry for "tanze" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #338,408 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tanze" and "tine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles 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 #338,408 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