TaubenvstrübenConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#11,763
“Tauben” frequency rank
#20,753
“trüben” frequency rank
32516
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Tauben trüben
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Taube dunkel machen oder werden

Where the eye mixes Tauben and trüben

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Tauben
6 ch
trüben

Visual trap between Tauben and trüben

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Tauben is [ˈtaʊ̯bn̩] while trüben is [ˈtʁyːbn̩]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32516, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Tauben is recorded at frequency rank #11,763, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈtaʊ̯bn̩]. trüben is at rank #20,753, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈtʁyːbn̩].

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 32516, this pair ranks #1,705,936 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Tauben vs trüben

Shared letters: bent. Private to "Tauben": au. Private to "trüben": .

"Tauben" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "trüben" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Taubenatuben · tabuen · taubben · taubenn · taubne · tauebn · ttauben · tuaben

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Tauben" for "trüben" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Tauben" is a noun and "trüben" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Tauben" vs "trüben" - which ranks higher?
"Tauben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,763 in our German list, against #20,753 for "trüben". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Tauben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "trüben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,705,936 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Tauben" and "trüben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "trüben vs trügen". 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 #1,705,936 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