tautvstrügtConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#49,293
“taut” frequency rank
#42,877
“trügt” frequency rank
92170
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature taut trügt
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs tauen 2. Person Plural Konjunktiv II Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs tragen

Where the eye mixes taut and trügt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. taut runs 4 letters (CVVC) against trügt's 5 (CCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
taut
5 ch
trügt

Visual trap between taut and trügt

A purely visual mix-up. taut ([taʊ̯t]) and trügt ([tʁyːkt]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 92170, 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]. trügt is at rank #42,877, tagged as averb, pronounced [tʁyːkt].

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 92170, this pair ranks #31,919 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of taut vs trügt

Shared letters: t. Private to "taut": au. Private to "trügt": grü.

"taut" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "trügt" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • taut ← atut · tatu · tautt · ttaut · tuat

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "taut" and "trügt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([taʊ̯t] versus [tʁyːkt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "taut" or "trügt" show up more?
"trügt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #42,877 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

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "taut" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "trügt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #31,919 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "taut" and "trügt" 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 #31,919 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