taugtvstoughWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: taugt is a verb, tough is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

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 spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set taugt and tough apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
taugt
5 ch
tough

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

  • taugtatugt · tagut · tauggt · taugtt · tautg · ttaugt · tuagt
  • toughotugh · toguh · touggh · toughh · touhg · ttough · tuogh

Frequency comparison

taugt#12,803
tough#43,540

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "taugt" and "tough" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "taugt" is a verb and "tough" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "taugt" or "tough"?
"taugt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,803 in our German list, against #43,540 for "tough". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering taugt vs tough

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “taugt”; for an adjective, it's “tough”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “taugt” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list