treu

[tʁɔɪ̯]

/[tʁɔɪ̯]/ adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“treu” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #5,320) as an adjective. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#5,320
frequency rank, German
2,684
“T” headwords
4
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - zu einem Menschen, Gedanken oder einer Abmachung haltend

Corpus desk

Index DE-treu · treu · German

treu · rank #5,320 · 4 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #5,320
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 4 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,684
  • PHOTO-FINISH trainiert

Nearest frequency peer: trainiert (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Häufigkeitsnachbarn des Verwechslers „treu“

Peers mit ähnlichem Corpus-Gewicht, getrennt von den Verwechslungspaaren unten

corpus weight

What this shows Balken platzieren „treu“ gegen die nächsten gerankten deutschen Lemmata, kein Reprint der Verwechslungsdesk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

treu vs tu
50% similar
treu vs tue
50% similar
treu vs TSE
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for treu
PropertyValue
Headwordtreu
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdjective
IPA[tʁɔɪ̯]
Letters4
Frequency rank#5,320
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus-Rang neben Verwechslern von „treu“

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).treuliegt auf dieser Marke:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „trainiert“ (#5,319), „Trier“ (#5,321), „trainieren“ (#5,318). Unter 2,684 „T“-Lemmata liegt „treu“ bei #5,320. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for treu is neighbouring look-alikes ("tu", "tue", …), not just typos; it is anadjective pronounced [tʁɔɪ̯]. Frequency #5,320 among 2,684 “T” headwords. Gloss: "zu einem Menschen, Gedanken oder einer Abmachung haltend".

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for treu, with forms such as "rteu", "teru", and "trreu". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "tu", "tue", "TSE", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct German form is treu, spelled T-R-E-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    zu einem Menschen, Gedanken oder einer Abmachung haltend

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how treu appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. „Wer sich selbst treu bleiben will, kann nicht immer anderen treu bleiben.“ - (Christian Morgenstern zugeschrieben)
  2. Frau Müller ist ein treuer Kunde von uns.

Synonyms

ergebengetreuloyalzuverlässigbeständig

Antonyms

ehebrecherischilloyaltreulosuntreu

This word in other languages

loyal(English)fiel(Español)loyal(Français)leal(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • rteu
  • teru
  • trreu
  • ttreu

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of treu - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

rteu2teru2trreu1ttreu1
Edit distance from "treu"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "treu"?
"treu" is spelled T-R-E-U. The IPA pronunciation is [tʁɔɪ̯].
What does "treu" mean?
As an adjective, "treu" means: zu einem Menschen, Gedanken oder einer Abmachung haltend
What words are commonly confused with "treu"?
"treu" is commonly confused with "tu", "tue", "TSE". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "treu"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "treu" is [tʁɔɪ̯]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "treu" come from?
"treu" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "treu", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Taxi#5,316Sofa#5,310Akku#5,338Axel#5,342

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list