Which to use
“true” is an adjective and “tui” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #393
- “true” frequency rank
- #38,658
- “tui” frequency rank
- 39051
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | true | tui |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Conforming to the actual state of reality or fact; factually correct. | A species of honeyeater, Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae, a bird which is endemic to New Zealand. |
Where the eye mixes true and tui
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between true and tui
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: true is /tɹuː/ while tui is /ˈtʉi/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39051, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
true is recorded at frequency rank #393, classified as anadj, pronounced /tɹuː/. tui is at rank #38,658, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtʉi/.
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 39051, this pair ranks #280,308 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of true vs tui
Shared letters: tu. Private to "true": er. Private to "tui": i.
"true" · 4 letters · shape CCVV · "tui" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- true ← rtue · treu · trrue · ttrue · ture
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "true" and "tui" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "true" or "tui" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "true" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tui" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #280,308 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "true" and "tui" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tuft vs tui". 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 #280,308 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.