RabevsroboWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“Rabe” and “robo” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#20,029
“Rabe” frequency rank
#47,698
“robo” frequency rank
67727
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Rabe robo
Definition schwarze Vogelart, der Kolkrabe Vokativ Singular des Substantivs roba

Where the eye mixes Rabe and robo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Rabe and robo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
Rabe
4 ch
robo

Visual trap between Rabe and robo

A purely visual mix-up. Rabe ([ˈʁaːbə]) and robo ([ˈrɔ̂bɔ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67727, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Rabe is recorded at frequency rank #20,029, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁaːbə]. robo is at rank #47,698, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈrɔ̂bɔ].

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 67727, this pair ranks #530,659 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Rabe vs robo

Shared letters: br. Private to "Rabe": ae. Private to "robo": o.

"Rabe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "robo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Rabe ← arbe · rabbe · raeb · rbae · rrabe
  • robo ← orbo · rboo · robbo · roob · rrobo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Rabe" for "robo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʁaːbə] versus [ˈrɔ̂bɔ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Rabe" or "robo" show up more?
"Rabe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,029 in our German list, against #47,698 for "robo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Rabe" and "robo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Rabe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "robo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #530,659 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Rabe" and "robo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "robo vs RUB". 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 #530,659 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