TunsvsturnTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#44,983
“Tuns” frequency rank
#14,188
“turn” frequency rank
59171
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Tuns turn
Definition Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Tun 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs turnen

Where the eye mixes Tuns and turn

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

4 ch
Tuns
4 ch
turn

Visual trap between Tuns and turn

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Tuns is [tuːns] while turn is [tʊʁn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59171, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Tuns is recorded at frequency rank #44,983, classified as anoun, pronounced [tuːns]. 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 59171, this pair ranks #834,563 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Tuns vs turn

Shared letters: ntu. Private to "Tuns": s. Private to "turn": r.

"Tuns" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "turn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Tunstnus · ttuns · tunns · tunss · tusn · utns
  • turntrun · tturn · tunr · turnn · turrn · utrn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Tuns" for "turn" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Tuns" is a noun and "turn" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Tuns" 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 #44,983 for "Tuns". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Tuns" 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 #834,563 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Tuns" and "turn" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tine vs Tuns". 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 #834,563 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