tevsTVsConfusable pair

Quick tell: te is a pronoun, TVs is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“te” is a pronoun and “TVs” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,979
“te” frequency rank
#40,900
“TVs” frequency rank
47879
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature te TVs
Definition ihr, Sie (Höflichkeitsform) Genitiv Singular des Substantivs TV

Where the eye mixes te and TVs

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch
te
3 ch
TVs

Why the eye confuses te with TVs

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: te is [te] while TVs is [teːˈfaʊ̯s]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47879, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

te is recorded at frequency rank #6,979, classified as apron, pronounced [te]. TVs is at rank #40,900, tagged as anoun, pronounced [teːˈfaʊ̯s].

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 47879, this pair ranks #1,268,710 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of te vs TVs

Shared letters: t. Private to "te": e. Private to "TVs": sv.

"te" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "TVs" · 3 letters · shape CCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "te" for "TVs" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "te" is a pronoun and "TVs" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "te" or "TVs" show up more?
"te" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,979 in our German list, against #40,900 for "TVs". 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 "te" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "TVs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,268,710 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "te" and "TVs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Tons vs TVs". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,268,710 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