RadarvsraserWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Radar is a noun, raser is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Radar” is a noun and “raser” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,735
“Radar” frequency rank
#23,279
“raser” frequency rank
35014
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Radar raser
Definition ein Verfahren zur Ortung, das elektromagnetische Wellen gebündelt als Primärsignal nutzt, um danach von Objekten reflektierte Echos als Sekundärsignal zu empfangen und auszuwerten barbieren, rasieren

Where the eye mixes Radar and raser

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Radar
5 ch
raser

Why the eye confuses Radar with raser

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Radar is [ʁaˈdaːɐ̯] while raser is [ʁa.ze]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35014, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Radar is recorded at frequency rank #11,735, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʁaˈdaːɐ̯]. raser is at rank #23,279, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʁa.ze].

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 35014, this pair ranks #1,650,073 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Radar vs raser

Shared letters: ar. Private to "Radar": d. Private to "raser": es.

"Radar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "raser" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Radarardar · raadr · radarr · raddar · radra · rdaar · rradar
  • raserarser · raesr · raserr · rasre · rasser · rraser · rsaer

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Radar" and "raser" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Radar" is a noun and "raser" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Radar" or "raser" show up more?
"Radar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,735 in our German list, against #23,279 for "raser". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Radar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "raser" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,650,073 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Radar" and "raser" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ramen vs raser". 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 #1,650,073 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