teurenvstuenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#8,638
“teuren” frequency rank
#32,318
“tuen” frequency rank
40956
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature teuren tuen
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs teuer 1. Person Plural Konjunktiv I Präsens Aktiv des Verbs tun

Where the eye mixes teuren and tuen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. teuren runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against tuen's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
teuren
4 ch
tuen

Why the eye confuses teuren with tuen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: teuren is [ˈtɔɪ̯ʁən] while tuen is [ˈtuːən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 40956, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

teuren is recorded at frequency rank #8,638, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈtɔɪ̯ʁən]. 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 40956, this pair ranks #1,493,482 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of teuren vs tuen

Shared letters: entu. Private to "teuren": r. Private to "tuen": -.

"teuren" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "tuen" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • teuren ← eturen · teruen · teuern · teurenn · teurne · teurren · tteuren · tueren
  • tuen ← teun · ttuen · tuenn · tune · uten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "teuren" and "tuen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "teuren" is an adjective and "tuen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "teuren" or "tuen" show up more?
"teuren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,638 in our German list, against #32,318 for "tuen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "teuren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tuen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,493,482 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "teuren" and "tuen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "trügen vs tuen". 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 #1,493,482 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