Which to use
“rack” is a noun and “raue” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #46,930
- “rack” frequency rank
- #24,891
- “raue” frequency rank
- 71821
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | rack | raue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Gestell, Gerüst, Gewehrständer, Kleiderständer, Ständer, Rahmen, Streckrahmen, Stützrahmen, Raufe, Futtergestell, Gepäcknetz, Handtuchhalter, Halter | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs rau |
Where the eye mixes rack and raue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. rack (CVCC) and raue (CVVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between rack and raue
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rack is [ɹæk] while raue is [ˈʁaʊ̯ə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71821, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
rack is recorded at frequency rank #46,930, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɹæk]. raue is at rank #24,891, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʁaʊ̯ə].
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 71821, this pair ranks #405,865 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of rack vs raue
Shared letters: ar. Private to "rack": ck. Private to "raue": eu.
"rack" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "raue" · 4 letters · shape CVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "rack" for "raue" ever safe?
Which is more common, "rack" or "raue"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "rack" and "raue" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "rack" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "raue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #405,865 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "rack" and "raue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rack vs rech". 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 #405,865 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.