tinevstunConfusable pair

Quick tell: tine is a noun, tun is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tine” is a noun and “tun” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,303
“tine” frequency rank
#245
“tun” frequency rank
49548
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tine tun
Definition Feuer eine Handlung ausführen

Letter map: tine vs tun

Shared letters muted; letters that set tine and tun apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
tine
3 ch
tun

Grammar separator: tine vs tun

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tine is anoun and tunaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49548, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tine is recorded at frequency rank #49,303, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. tun is at rank #245, tagged as averb, pronounced [tuːn].

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 49548, this pair ranks #1,207,339 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tine vs tun

Shared letters: nt. Private to "tine": ei. Private to "tun": u.

"tine" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "tun" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tineitne · tien · tinne · tnie · ttine

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tine" and "tun" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tine" is a noun and "tun" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "tine" or "tun" show up more?
"tun" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #245 in our German list, against #49,303 for "tine". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "tine" and "tun".

  • Full dictionary entry for "tine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,207,339 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tine" and "tun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs tine". 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 #1,207,339 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