teuervstuenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: teuer is a adjective, tuen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#2,267
“teuer” frequency rank
#32,318
“tuen” frequency rank
34585
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature teuer tuen
Definition einen hohen Preis oder hohe Kosten aufweisend oder verursachend 1. Person Plural Konjunktiv I Präsens Aktiv des Verbs tun

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set teuer and tuen apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
teuer
4 ch
tuen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: teuer is [ˈtɔɪ̯ɐ] while tuen is [ˈtuːən]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34585, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

teuer is recorded at frequency rank #2,267, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈtɔɪ̯ɐ]. tuen is at rank #32,318, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈtuːən].

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 34585, this pair ranks #1,659,913 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of teuer vs tuen

Shared letters: etu. Private to "teuer": r. Private to "tuen": n.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • teueretuer · teeur · teuerr · tteuer · tueer
  • tuenteun · ttuen · tuenn · tune · uten

Frequency comparison

teuer#2,267
tuen#32,318

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "teuer" and "tuen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "teuer" is an adjective and "tuen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "teuer" or "tuen"?
"teuer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,267 in our German list, against #32,318 for "tuen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering teuer vs tuen

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “teuer”; for a verb, it's “tuen”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “teuer” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list