TaufevstautConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#9,104
“Taufe” frequency rank
#49,293
“taut” frequency rank
58397
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Taufe taut
Definition Sakrament innerhalb christlicher Religionsgemeinschaften zu Aufnahme in das christliche Volk Gottes 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs tauen

Where the eye mixes Taufe and taut

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Taufe runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against taut's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Taufe
4 ch
taut

Why the eye confuses Taufe with taut

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Taufe is [ˈtaʊ̯fə] while taut is [taʊ̯t]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58397, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Taufe is recorded at frequency rank #9,104, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈtaʊ̯fə]. taut is at rank #49,293, tagged as averb, pronounced [taʊ̯t].

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 58397, this pair ranks #864,346 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Taufe vs taut

Shared letters: atu. Private to "Taufe": ef. Private to "taut": -.

"Taufe" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "taut" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Taufe ← atufe · tafue · tauef · tauffe · ttaufe · tuafe
  • taut ← atut · tatu · tautt · ttaut · tuat

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Taufe" for "taut" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Taufe" is a noun and "taut" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Taufe" or "taut"?
"Taufe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,104 in our German list, against #49,293 for "taut". 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 "Taufe" and "taut" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Taufe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "taut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #864,346 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Taufe" and "taut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Taft vs taut". 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 #864,346 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