trägevsTrashWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: träge is a adjective, Trash is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“träge” is an adjective and “Trash” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#22,926
“träge” frequency rank
#19,422
“Trash” frequency rank
42348
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature träge Trash
Definition ohne inneren Antrieb minderwertiges Produkt, Schund, Ramsch

Where the eye mixes träge and Trash

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

5 ch
träge
5 ch
Trash

Look-alike desk: träge vs Trash

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: träge is [ˈtʁɛːɡə] while Trash is [tʁæʃ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42348, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

träge is recorded at frequency rank #22,926, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈtʁɛːɡə]. Trash is at rank #19,422, tagged as anoun, pronounced [tʁæʃ].

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 42348, this pair ranks #1,452,111 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of träge vs Trash

Shared letters: rt. Private to "träge": egä. Private to "Trash": ahs.

"träge" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "Trash" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Trashrtash · tarsh · trahs · trashh · trassh · trrash · trsah · ttrash

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "träge" and "Trash" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "träge" is an adjective and "Trash" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "träge" vs "Trash" - which ranks higher?
"Trash" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,422 in our German list, against #22,926 for "träge". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "träge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Trash" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,452,111 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "träge" and "Trash" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "träge vs trügen". 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 #1,452,111 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