trübtvstrueWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: trübt is a verb, true is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“trübt” is a verb and “true” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#39,671
“trübt” frequency rank
#9,645
“true” frequency rank
49316
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature trübt true
Definition 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs trüben wahr, richtig

Where the eye mixes trübt and true

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. trübt runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against true's 4 (CCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
trübt
4 ch
true

Visual trap between trübt and true

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: trübt is [tʁyːpt] while true is [tɹuː]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49316, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

trübt is recorded at frequency rank #39,671, classified as averb, pronounced [tʁyːpt]. 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 49316, this pair ranks #1,216,056 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of trübt vs true

Shared letters: rt. Private to "trübt": bü. Private to "true": eu.

"trübt" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "true" · 4 letters · shape CCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • true ← rtue · trrue · ttrue · ture

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "trübt" and "true" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "trübt" is a verb and "true" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "trübt" or "true"?
"true" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,645 in our German list, against #39,671 for "trübt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "trübt" 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 #1,216,056 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "trübt" and "true" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "taut vs trübt". 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 #1,216,056 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