Which to use
“Teer” and “Tees” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,240
- “Teer” frequency rank
- #39,662
- “Tees” frequency rank
- 76902
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Teer | Tees |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | braunschwarze, dicke, fette, klumpige, ölig-klebrige Flüssigkeit von scharfem Geruch, die durch trockenes Erhitzen organischer Stoffe (zum Beispiel Kohle) unter Luftabschluss entsteht | Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Tee |
Where the eye mixes Teer and Tees
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Teer and Tees follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses Teer with Tees
A purely visual mix-up. Teer ([teːɐ̯]) and Tees ([teːs]) 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 a single letter - r in “Teer” becomes s in “Tees”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76902, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Teer is recorded at frequency rank #37,240, classified as anoun, pronounced [teːɐ̯]. Tees is at rank #39,662, tagged as anoun, pronounced [teːs].
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 76902, this pair ranks #273,061 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of Teer vs Tees
Shared letters: et. Private to "Teer": r. Private to "Tees": s.
"Teer" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "Tees" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Teer" and "Tees" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "Teer" vs "Tees" - which ranks higher?
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 "Teer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Tees" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #273,061 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Teer" and "Tees" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Tees vs trees". 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 #273,061 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.