thatvstrautTell them apart

Quick tell: that is a pronoun, traut is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“that” is a pronoun and “traut” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,321
“that” frequency rank
#8,143
“traut” frequency rank
10464
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature that traut
Definition kennzeichnet ein Ding, eine Person oder einen Vorgang, der räumlich oder von der Vorstellung weiter weg ist bestens bekannt und Wohlbehagen erweckend

Where the eye mixes that and traut

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
that
5 ch
traut

Why the eye confuses that with traut

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: that is [ðæt] while traut is [tʁaʊ̯t]. 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 (pronoun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10464, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

that is recorded at frequency rank #2,321, classified as apron, pronounced [ðæt]. traut is at rank #8,143, tagged as anadj, pronounced [tʁaʊ̯t].

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 10464, this pair ranks #1,974,993 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of that vs traut

Shared letters: at. Private to "that": h. Private to "traut": ru.

"that" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "traut" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • thathtat · taht · thatt · thhat · thta · tthat
  • trautrtaut · tarut · tratu · trautt · trraut · truat · ttraut

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "that" and "traut" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "that" is a pronoun and "traut" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "that" or "traut"?
"that" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,321 in our German list, against #8,143 for "traut". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "that" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "traut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,974,993 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "that" and "traut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "taut vs traut". 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 #1,974,993 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