TaubenvstrügenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#11,763
“Tauben” frequency rank
#48,553
“trügen” frequency rank
60316
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Tauben trügen
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Taube etwas Unzutreffendes vortäuschen

Where the eye mixes Tauben and trügen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Tauben (CVVCVC) and trügen (CCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
Tauben
6 ch
trügen

Why the eye confuses Tauben with trügen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Tauben is [ˈtaʊ̯bn̩] while trügen is [ˈtʁyːɡn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 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 60316, 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]. trügen is at rank #48,553, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈtʁyːɡn̩].

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 60316, this pair ranks #791,540 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Tauben vs trügen

Shared letters: ent. Private to "Tauben": abu. Private to "trügen": grü.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Tauben ← atuben · tabuen · taubben · taubenn · taubne · tauebn · ttauben · tuaben

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Tauben" and "trügen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Tauben" is a noun and "trügen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Tauben" or "trügen"?
"Tauben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,763 in our German list, against #48,553 for "trügen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Tauben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "trügen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #791,540 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Tauben" and "trügen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "trügen vs trügt". 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 #791,540 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