trabvstraunTell them apart

Quick tell: trab is a verb, traun is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“trab” is a verb and “traun” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,348
“trab” frequency rank
#43,543
“traun” frequency rank
68891
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature trab traun
Definition 2. Person Singular Präsens Imperativ Aktiv des Verbs traben in der Tat, wirklich, fürwahr, wahrlich

Where the eye mixes trab and traun

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. trab runs 4 letters (CCVC) against traun's 5 (CCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
trab
5 ch
traun

Why the eye confuses trab with traun

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: trab is [tʁaːp] while traun is [tʁaʊ̯n]. 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 (verb vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68891, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

trab is recorded at frequency rank #25,348, classified as averb, pronounced [tʁaːp]. traun is at rank #43,543, tagged as anintj, pronounced [tʁaʊ̯n].

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 68891, this pair ranks #493,590 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of trab vs traun

Shared letters: art. Private to "trab": b. Private to "traun": nu.

"trab" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "traun" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • trab ← rtab · tarb · trabb · trba · trrab · ttrab
  • traun ← rtaun · tarun · tranu · traunn · trraun · truan · ttraun

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "trab" for "traun" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "trab" is a verb and "traun" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "trab" or "traun"?
"trab" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,348 in our German list, against #43,543 for "traun". 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 "trab" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "traun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #493,590 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "trab" and "traun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "taut vs traun". 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 #493,590 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