trübvstrueWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“trüb” and “true” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#36,672
“trüb” frequency rank
#9,645
“true” frequency rank
46317
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature trüb true
Definition unklar, nicht transparent, stark undurchsichtig, fast nicht mehr durchsichtig wahr, richtig

Where the eye mixes trüb and true

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

4 ch
trüb
4 ch
true

Why the eye confuses trüb with true

A purely visual mix-up. trüb ([tʁyːp]) and true ([tɹuː]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46317, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

trüb is recorded at frequency rank #36,672, classified as anadj, pronounced [tʁyːp]. true is at rank #9,645, tagged as anadj, pronounced [tɹuː].

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 46317, this pair ranks #1,323,293 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of trüb vs true

Shared letters: rt. Private to "trüb": . Private to "true": eu.

"trüb" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "true" · 4 letters · shape CCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • truertue · trrue · ttrue · ture

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "trüb" for "true" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([tʁyːp] versus [tɹuː]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "trüb" or "true"?
"true" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,645 in our German list, against #36,672 for "trüb". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "trüb" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "true" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,323,293 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "trüb" and "true" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "taut vs trüb". 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 #1,323,293 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