tautvstraustTell them apart

Which to use

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

#49,293
“taut” frequency rank
#27,522
“traust” frequency rank
76815
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature taut traust
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs tauen 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs trauen

Where the eye mixes taut and traust

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
taut
6 ch
traust

Look-alike desk: taut vs traust

A purely visual mix-up. taut ([taʊ̯t]) and traust ([tʁaʊ̯st]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76815, 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]. traust is at rank #27,522, tagged as averb, pronounced [tʁaʊ̯st].

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 76815, this pair ranks #275,084 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of taut vs traust

Shared letters: atu. Private to "taut": -. Private to "traust": rs.

"taut" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "traust" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tautatut · tatu · tautt · ttaut · tuat
  • traustrtaust · tarust · trasut · trausst · traustt · trauts · trraust · truast

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "taut" for "traust" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([taʊ̯t] versus [tʁaʊ̯st]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "taut" or "traust"?
"traust" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,522 in our German list, against #49,293 for "taut". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "taut" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "traust" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #275,084 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "taut" and "traust" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Taft 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 #275,084 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