trübenvsTruheConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#20,753
“trüben” frequency rank
#30,330
“Truhe” frequency rank
51083
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature trüben Truhe
Definition dunkel machen oder werden verschließbarer, kastenartiger Behälter

Where the eye mixes trüben and Truhe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. trüben runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against Truhe's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
trüben
5 ch
Truhe

Why the eye confuses trüben with Truhe

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: trüben is [ˈtʁyːbn̩] while Truhe is [ˈtʁuːə]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51083, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

trüben is recorded at frequency rank #20,753, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈtʁyːbn̩]. Truhe is at rank #30,330, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈtʁuːə].

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 51083, this pair ranks #1,149,112 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of trüben vs Truhe

Shared letters: ert. Private to "trüben": bnü. Private to "Truhe": hu.

"trüben" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "Truhe" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Truhe ← rtuhe · trhue · trruhe · trueh · truhhe · ttruhe · turhe

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "trüben" and "Truhe" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "trüben" is a verb and "Truhe" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "trüben" or "Truhe" show up more?
"trüben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,753 in our German list, against #30,330 for "Truhe". 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 "trüben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Truhe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,149,112 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "trüben" and "Truhe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "trügen vs Truhe". 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 #1,149,112 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