tuenvsturnTell them apart

Which to use

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

#32,318
“tuen” frequency rank
#14,188
“turn” frequency rank
46506
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tuen turn
Definition 1. Person Plural Konjunktiv I Präsens Aktiv des Verbs tun 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs turnen

Where the eye mixes tuen and turn

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
tuen
4 ch
turn

Why the eye confuses tuen with turn

A purely visual mix-up. tuen ([ˈtuːən]) and turn ([tʊʁn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - e in “tuen” becomes r in “turn”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46506, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tuen is recorded at frequency rank #32,318, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈtuːən]. turn is at rank #14,188, tagged as averb, pronounced [tʊʁn].

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 46506, this pair ranks #1,316,725 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tuen vs turn

Shared letters: ntu. Private to "tuen": e. Private to "turn": r.

"tuen" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "turn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tuenteun · ttuen · tuenn · tune · uten
  • turntrun · tturn · tunr · turnn · turrn · utrn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tuen" for "turn" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈtuːən] versus [tʊʁn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tuen" vs "turn" - which ranks higher?
"turn" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,188 in our German list, against #32,318 for "tuen". 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 "tuen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "turn" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,316,725 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tuen" and "turn" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "trügen vs tuen". 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 #1,316,725 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