taxvsTaxisWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#26,639
“tax” frequency rank
#16,296
“Taxis” frequency rank
42935
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tax Taxis
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs taxen freie, gerichtete Bewegung eines Organismus entlang eines Umweltgradienten

Where the eye mixes tax and Taxis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. tax runs 3 letters (CVC) against Taxis's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
tax
5 ch
Taxis

Visual trap between tax and Taxis

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tax is [taks] while Taxis is [ˈtaksɪs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “tax” sits inside “Taxis”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42935, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tax is recorded at frequency rank #26,639, classified as averb, pronounced [taks]. Taxis is at rank #16,296, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈtaksɪs].

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 42935, this pair ranks #1,433,751 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tax vs Taxis

Shared letters: atx. Private to "tax": -. Private to "Taxis": is.

"tax" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Taxis" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Taxis ← atxis · taixs · taxiss · taxsi · taxxis · ttaxis · txais

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tax" and "Taxis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tax" is a verb and "Taxis" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "tax" or "Taxis" show up more?
"Taxis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,296 in our German list, against #26,639 for "tax". 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 "tax" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Taxis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,433,751 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tax" and "Taxis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "taut vs tax". 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 #1,433,751 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