testenvsteurenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: testen is a verb, teuren is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“testen” is a verb and “teuren” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,491
“testen” frequency rank
#8,638
“teuren” frequency rank
12129
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature testen teuren
Definition durch einen oder mehrere Versuche überprüfen, ob etwas (beispielsweise eine Methode, ein Prozess, ein technisches Gerät) funktioniert/den Anforderungen entspricht oder nicht Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs teuer

Where the eye mixes testen and teuren

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
testen
6 ch
teuren

Look-alike desk: testen vs teuren

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: testen is [ˈtɛstn̩] while teuren is [ˈtɔɪ̯ʁən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12129, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

testen is recorded at frequency rank #3,491, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈtɛstn̩]. teuren is at rank #8,638, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈtɔɪ̯ʁən].

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 12129, this pair ranks #1,966,012 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of testen vs teuren

Shared letters: ent. Private to "testen": s. Private to "teuren": ru.

"testen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "teuren" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • testenetsten · tesetn · tessten · testenn · testne · testten · tetsen · tseten
  • teureneturen · teruen · teuern · teurenn · teurne · teurren · tteuren · tueren

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "testen" for "teuren" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "testen" is a verb and "teuren" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "testen" or "teuren"?
"testen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,491 in our German list, against #8,638 for "teuren". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "testen" and "teuren" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "testen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "teuren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,966,012 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "testen" and "teuren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "teuren vs trügen". 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 #1,966,012 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