täuschtevsTuscheWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#44,984
“täuschte” frequency rank
#47,058
“Tusche” frequency rank
92042
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature täuschte Tusche
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs täuschen dunkle, mit Bindemitteln versetzte Tinte mit unlöslichem Farbmittel

Where the eye mixes täuschte and Tusche

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
täuschte
6 ch
Tusche

Why the eye confuses täuschte with Tusche

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: täuschte is [ˈtɔɪ̯ʃtə] while Tusche is [ˈtʊʃə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 92042, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

täuschte is recorded at frequency rank #44,984, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈtɔɪ̯ʃtə]. Tusche is at rank #47,058, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈtʊʃə].

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 92042, this pair ranks #32,913 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of täuschte vs Tusche

Shared letters: cehstu. Private to "täuschte": ä. Private to "Tusche": -.

"täuschte" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCCCV  ·  "Tusche" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Tuschetsuche · ttusche · tucshe · tuscche · tusceh · tuschhe · tushce · tussche

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "täuschte" for "Tusche" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "täuschte" is a verb and "Tusche" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "täuschte" or "Tusche" show up more?
"täuschte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #44,984 in our German list, against #47,058 for "Tusche". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "täuschte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Tusche" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #32,913 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "täuschte" and "Tusche" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Türchen vs Tusche". 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 #32,913 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