TeervsteuerConfusable pair

Quick tell: Teer is a noun, teuer is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Teer” is a noun and “teuer” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37,240
“Teer” frequency rank
#2,267
“teuer” frequency rank
39507
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Teer teuer
Definition braunschwarze, dicke, fette, klumpige, ölig-klebrige Flüssigkeit von scharfem Geruch, die durch trockenes Erhitzen organischer Stoffe (zum Beispiel Kohle) unter Luftabschluss entsteht einen hohen Preis oder hohe Kosten aufweisend oder verursachend

Where the eye mixes Teer and teuer

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

4 ch
Teer
5 ch
teuer

Look-alike desk: Teer vs teuer

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Teer is [teːɐ̯] while teuer is [ˈtɔɪ̯ɐ]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39507, 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]. teuer is at rank #2,267, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈtɔɪ̯ɐ].

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 39507, this pair ranks #1,534,875 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Teer vs teuer

Shared letters: ert. Private to "Teer": -. Private to "teuer": u.

"Teer" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "teuer" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Teer ← eter · teerr · tteer
  • teuer ← etuer · teeur · teuerr · tteuer · tueer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Teer" and "teuer" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Teer" is a noun and "teuer" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Teer" vs "teuer" - which ranks higher?
"teuer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,267 in our German list, against #37,240 for "Teer". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "Teer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "teuer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,534,875 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Teer" and "teuer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Teer 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 #1,534,875 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