vertrauvsvertrauteWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#32,840
“vertrau” frequency rank
#11,777
“vertraute” frequency rank
44617
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vertrau vertraute
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs vertrauen Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs vertraut

Where the eye mixes vertrau and vertraute

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. vertrau runs 7 letters (CVCCCVV) against vertraute's 9 (CVCCCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
vertrau
9 ch
vertraute

Look-alike desk: vertrau vs vertraute

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vertrau is [fɛɐ̯ˈtʁaʊ̯] while vertraute is [fɛɐ̯ˈtʁaʊ̯tə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “vertrau” sits inside “vertraute”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44617, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vertrau is recorded at frequency rank #32,840, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈtʁaʊ̯]. vertraute is at rank #11,777, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈtʁaʊ̯tə].

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 44617, this pair ranks #1,380,367 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vertrau vs vertraute

Shared letters: aertuv. Private to "vertrau": -. Private to "vertraute": -.

"vertrau" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVV  ·  "vertraute" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vertrau ← evrtrau · verrtau · verrtrau · vertaru · vertrrau · vertrua · verttrau · vetrrau
  • vertraute ← evrtraute · verrtaute · verrtraute · vertarute · vertratue · vertrauet · vertrautte · vertrraute

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vertrau" for "vertraute" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vertrau" is a verb and "vertraute" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "vertrau" or "vertraute"?
"vertraute" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,777 in our German list, against #32,840 for "vertrau". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "vertrau" and "vertraute" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vertrau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vertraute" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,380,367 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vertrau" and "vertraute" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vertrau vs vertraust". 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 #1,380,367 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