TaufevsTiefeTell them apart

Which to use

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

#9,104
“Taufe” frequency rank
#2,619
“Tiefe” frequency rank
11723
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Taufe Tiefe
Definition Sakrament innerhalb christlicher Religionsgemeinschaften zu Aufnahme in das christliche Volk Gottes Abstand/Erstreckung in der Senkrechten nach unten

Where the eye mixes Taufe and Tiefe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Taufe and Tiefe follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
Taufe
5 ch
Tiefe

Look-alike desk: Taufe vs Tiefe

A purely visual mix-up. Taufe ([ˈtaʊ̯fə]) and Tiefe ([ˈtiːfə]) 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 11723, 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]. Tiefe is at rank #2,619, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈtiːfə].

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 11723, this pair ranks #1,968,286 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Taufe vs Tiefe

Shared letters: eft. Private to "Taufe": au. Private to "Tiefe": i.

"Taufe" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "Tiefe" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Taufeatufe · tafue · tauef · tauffe · ttaufe · tuafe
  • Tiefeitefe · teife · tieef · tieffe · tifee · ttiefe

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Taufe" for "Tiefe" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈtaʊ̯fə] versus [ˈtiːfə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Taufe" vs "Tiefe" - which ranks higher?
"Tiefe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,619 in our German list, against #9,104 for "Taufe". 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 "Taufe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Tiefe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,968,286 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Taufe" and "Tiefe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Taufe 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 #1,968,286 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