tarnenvstastenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#33,333
“tarnen” frequency rank
#13,959
“tasten” frequency rank
47292
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tarnen tasten
Definition verschleiern; etwas mithilfe von Maßnahmen an die Umgebung anpassen, damit es nicht erkannt wird versuchen, die Gegenstände seiner Umgebung durch Berühren wahrzunehmen

Where the eye mixes tarnen and tasten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tarnen and tasten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
tarnen
6 ch
tasten

Why the eye confuses tarnen with tasten

A purely visual mix-up. tarnen ([ˈtaʁnən]) and tasten ([ˈtastn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47292, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tarnen is recorded at frequency rank #33,333, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈtaʁnən]. tasten is at rank #13,959, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈtastn̩].

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 47292, this pair ranks #1,289,491 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tarnen vs tasten

Shared letters: aent. Private to "tarnen": r. Private to "tasten": s.

"tarnen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "tasten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tarnen ← atrnen · tanren · tarenn · tarnenn · tarnne · tarnnen · tarrnen · tranen
  • tasten ← atsten · tasetn · tassten · tastenn · tastne · tastten · tatsen · tsaten

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tarnen" and "tasten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈtaʁnən] versus [ˈtastn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tarnen" vs "tasten" - which ranks higher?
"tasten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,959 in our German list, against #33,333 for "tarnen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "tarnen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tasten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,289,491 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tarnen" and "tasten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tann vs tarnen". 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 #1,289,491 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