tough

/[taf]/ adj

Letters

5 characters

Frequency Rank

#43,540

in German word usage

Misspellings

7

tracked variants

Confusables

12

similar word pairs

tough is anGermanadj. It means: robust, widerstandsfähig Pronounced [taf]. Often confused with Tour and trug.

Key facts for tough
PropertyValue
Headwordtough
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdj
IPA[taf]
Letters5
Frequency rank#43,540
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs12
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of tough in German word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The German entry for tough is 5 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [taf]. Corpus data places it at rank #43,540 in overall German word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "robust, widerstandsfähig".

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 7 documented wrong-spelling variants for tough, with forms such as "otugh", "toguh", and "touggh". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 12 confusable-pair relationships, "Tour", "trug", "Tuch", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct German form is tough, spelled T-O-U-G-H, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    robust, widerstandsfähig

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: otugh,toguh,touggh,toughh,touhg,ttough,tuogh

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for tough

Misspelling Variants of "tough"

otugh5toguh5touggh6toughh6touhg5ttough6tuogh5
Misspelling Variants of "tough"

Frequency rank: #43,540 in German

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "tough"?
"tough" is spelled T-O-U-G-H. The IPA pronunciation is [taf].
What does "tough" mean?
As an adj, "tough" means: robust, widerstandsfähig
What words are commonly confused with "tough"?
"tough" is commonly confused with "Tour", "trug", "Tuch". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "tough"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "tough" is [taf]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "tough" come from?
"tough" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby German words

Other entries that begin with the letter T in our German index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.