tautvsTsuiConfusable pair

Quick tell: taut is a adjective, Tsui is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“taut” is an adjective and “Tsui” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,618
“taut” frequency rank
#46,827
“Tsui” frequency rank
79445
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature taut Tsui
Definition Under tension, like a stretched bowstring, rope, or sail; tight. A surname.

Letter map: taut vs Tsui

Shared letters muted; letters that set taut and Tsui apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. taut (CVVC) and Tsui (CCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
taut
4 ch
Tsui

Grammar separator: taut vs Tsui

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: taut is anadjective and Tsuianame. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79445, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

taut is recorded at frequency rank #32,618, classified as anadj, pronounced /tɔːt/. Tsui is at rank #46,827, tagged as aname.

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 79445, this pair ranks #22,049 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of taut vs Tsui

Shared letters: tu. Private to "taut": a. Private to "Tsui": is.

"taut" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "Tsui" · 4 letters · shape CCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • taut ← atut · tatu · tautt · ttaut · tuat
  • Tsui ← stui · tsiu · tssui · ttsui · tusi

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "taut" for "Tsui" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "taut" is an adjective and "Tsui" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "taut" or "Tsui" show up more?
"taut" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,618 in our English list, against #46,827 for "Tsui". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "taut" vs "Tsui" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "taut" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Tsui" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #22,049 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "taut" and "Tsui" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "TDI vs Tsui". 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 #22,049 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list