Which to use
“taugt” is a verb and “tough” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,803
- “taugt” frequency rank
- #43,540
- “tough” frequency rank
- 56343
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | taugt | tough |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs taugen | robust, widerstandsfähig |
Where the eye mixes taugt and tough
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. taugt and tough follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: taugt vs tough
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: taugt is [taʊ̯kt] while tough is [taf]. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56343, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
taugt is recorded at frequency rank #12,803, classified as averb, pronounced [taʊ̯kt]. tough is at rank #43,540, tagged as anadj, pronounced [taf].
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 56343, this pair ranks #943,955 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of taugt vs tough
Shared letters: gtu. Private to "taugt": a. Private to "tough": ho.
"taugt" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "tough" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "taugt" and "tough" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "taugt" or "tough"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "taugt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tough" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #943,955 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "taugt" and "tough" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "though vs tough". 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 #943,955 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.