tautvsTourWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#49,293
“taut” frequency rank
#1,574
“Tour” frequency rank
50867
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature taut Tour
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs tauen Reise, Weg oder Bewegung mit in der Regel identischem Ausgangs- und Zielort

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set taut and Tour apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
taut
4 ch
Tour

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: taut is [taʊ̯t] while Tour is [tuːɐ̯]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50867, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

taut is recorded at frequency rank #49,293, classified as averb, pronounced [taʊ̯t]. Tour is at rank #1,574, tagged as anoun, pronounced [tuːɐ̯].

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 50867, this pair ranks #1,157,311 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of taut vs Tour

Shared letters: tu. Private to "taut": a. Private to "Tour": or.

"taut" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "Tour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tautatut · tatu · tautt · ttaut · tuat
  • Tourotur · toru · tourr · ttour · tuor

Frequency comparison

taut#49,293
Tour#1,574

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "taut" and "Tour" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "taut" is a verb and "Tour" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "taut" or "Tour"?
"Tour" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,574 in our German list, against #49,293 for "taut". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering taut vs Tour

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “taut”; for a noun, it's “Tour”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “taut” 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