trauvstraunTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#16,849
“trau” frequency rank
#43,543
“traun” frequency rank
60392
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes trau and traun

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
trau
5 ch
traun

Visual trap between trau and traun

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: trau is [tʁaʊ̯] while traun is [tʁaʊ̯n]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “trau” sits inside “traun”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60392, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

trau is recorded at frequency rank #16,849, classified as averb, pronounced [tʁaʊ̯]. 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 60392, this pair ranks #788,723 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of trau vs traun

Shared letters: artu. Private to "trau": -. Private to "traun": n.

"trau" · 4 letters · shape CCVV  ·  "traun" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • traurtau · taru · trrau · trua · ttrau
  • traunrtaun · tarun · tranu · traunn · trraun · truan · ttraun

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "trau" and "traun" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "trau" is a verb and "traun" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "trau" or "traun"?
"trau" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,849 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.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "trau" 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 #788,723 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "trau" 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 #788,723 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