RadevsRuheConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#43,432
“Rade” frequency rank
#1,120
“Ruhe” frequency rank
44552
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Rade Ruhe
Definition wilde Ackerpflanze Abwesenheit von Ablenkung, Störung, Geräusch und Bewegung; (fast völlige) Stille und Bewegungslosigkeit

Where the eye mixes Rade and Ruhe

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

4 ch
Rade
4 ch
Ruhe

Why the eye confuses Rade with Ruhe

A purely visual mix-up. Rade ([ˈʁaːdə]) and Ruhe ([ˈʁuːə]) 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 44552, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Rade is recorded at frequency rank #43,432, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁaːdə]. Ruhe is at rank #1,120, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁuːə].

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 44552, this pair ranks #1,382,504 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Rade vs Ruhe

Shared letters: er. Private to "Rade": ad. Private to "Ruhe": hu.

"Rade" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Ruhe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Rade ← arde · radde · rdae · rrade
  • Ruhe ← rhue · rruhe · rueh · ruhhe · urhe

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Rade" and "Ruhe" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʁaːdə] versus [ˈʁuːə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Rade" vs "Ruhe" - which ranks higher?
"Ruhe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,120 in our German list, against #43,432 for "Rade". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Rade" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Ruhe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,382,504 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Rade" and "Ruhe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Rade vs Ramen". 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 #1,382,504 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