TodesvstreesWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#5,432
“Todes” frequency rank
#49,311
“trees” frequency rank
54743
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Todes trees
Definition Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Tod 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs tree

Where the eye mixes Todes and trees

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

5 ch
Todes
5 ch
trees

Visual trap between Todes and trees

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Todes is [ˈtoːdəs] while trees is [tɹiːz]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54743, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Todes is recorded at frequency rank #5,432, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈtoːdəs]. trees is at rank #49,311, tagged as averb, pronounced [tɹiːz].

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 54743, this pair ranks #1,006,825 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Todes vs trees

Shared letters: est. Private to "Todes": do. Private to "trees": r.

"Todes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "trees" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Todesotdes · tdoes · toddes · todess · todse · toeds · ttodes
  • treesrtees · teres · treess · trese · trrees · ttrees

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Todes" and "trees" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Todes" is a noun and "trees" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Todes" or "trees"?
"Todes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,432 in our German list, against #49,311 for "trees". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Todes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "trees" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,006,825 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Todes" and "trees" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "trees vs Turmes". 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 #1,006,825 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