vertrauevsvertrauterWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#14,203
“vertraue” frequency rank
#22,554
“vertrauter” frequency rank
36757
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vertraue vertrauter
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs vertrauen Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs vertraut

Where the eye mixes vertraue and vertrauter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. vertraue runs 8 letters (CVCCCVVV) against vertrauter's 10 (CVCCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
vertraue
10 ch
vertrauter

Why the eye confuses vertraue with vertrauter

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vertraue is [fɛɐ̯ˈtʁaʊ̯ə] while vertrauter is [fɛɐ̯ˈtʁaʊ̯tɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 36757, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vertraue is recorded at frequency rank #14,203, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈtʁaʊ̯ə]. vertrauter is at rank #22,554, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈtʁaʊ̯tɐ].

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 36757, this pair ranks #1,607,434 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vertraue vs vertrauter

Shared letters: aertuv. Private to "vertraue": -. Private to "vertrauter": -.

"vertraue" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVVV  ·  "vertrauter" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vertraue ← evrtraue · verrtaue · verrtraue · vertarue · vertraeu · vertrraue · vertruae · verttraue
  • vertrauter ← evrtrauter · verrtauter · verrtrauter · vertaruter · vertratuer · vertrauetr · vertrauterr · vertrautre

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "vertraue" and "vertrauter" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vertraue" is a verb and "vertrauter" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "vertraue" or "vertrauter"?
"vertraue" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,203 in our German list, against #22,554 for "vertrauter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "vertraue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vertrauter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,607,434 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vertraue" and "vertrauter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vertraue 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 #1,607,434 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