Which to use
“torn” is a verb and “tru” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,306
- “torn” frequency rank
- #28,061
- “tru” frequency rank
- 34367
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | torn | tru |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | past participle of tear | Abbreviation of true. |
Letter map: torn vs tru
Shared letters muted; letters that set torn and tru apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Part-of-speech tell for torn / tru
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: torn is averb and truanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34367, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
torn is recorded at frequency rank #6,306, classified as averb, pronounced /tɔːn/. tru is at rank #28,061, tagged as anadj.
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 34367, this pair ranks #321,467 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of torn vs tru
Shared letters: rt. Private to "torn": no. Private to "tru": u.
"torn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "tru" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- torn ← otrn · tonr · tornn · torrn · tron · ttorn
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "torn" for "tru" ever safe?
Which is more common, "torn" or "tru"?
After this comparison
Pair "torn" vs "tru" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "torn" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tru" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #321,467 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "torn" and "tru" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Trav vs tru". 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 #321,467 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.