RaabevsRabeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Raabe is a name, Rabe is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Raabe” is a name and “Rabe” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,729
“Raabe” frequency rank
#20,029
“Rabe” frequency rank
50758
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Raabe Rabe
Definition deutschsprachiger Familienname, Nachname schwarze Vogelart, der Kolkrabe

Same sound, different letters: Raabe vs Rabe

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters.

5 ch
Raabe
4 ch
Rabe

Homophone desk: Raabe vs Rabe

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: Raabe and Rabe carry the same recorded pronunciation, [ˈʁaːbə]. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is aname, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50758, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Raabe is recorded at frequency rank #30,729, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈʁaːbə]. Rabe is at rank #20,029, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁaːbə].

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 50758, this pair ranks #1,161,618 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Raabe vs Rabe

Shared letters: aber. Private to "Raabe": -. Private to "Rabe": -.

"Raabe" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "Rabe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Raabearabe · raabbe · raaeb · rabae · rraabe
  • Rabearbe · rabbe · raeb · rbae · rrabe

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Raabe" and "Rabe" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Raabe" is a name and "Rabe" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Raabe" or "Rabe" show up more?
"Rabe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,029 in our German list, against #30,729 for "Raabe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Raabe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Rabe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,161,618 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Raabe" and "Rabe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Raabe vs Robbe". 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 #1,161,618 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list