rafftvsruftTell them apart

Which to use

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

#45,532
“rafft” frequency rank
#2,318
“ruft” frequency rank
47850
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rafft ruft
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs raffen 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs rufen

Where the eye mixes rafft and ruft

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. rafft runs 5 letters (CVCCC) against ruft's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
rafft
4 ch
ruft

Why the eye confuses rafft with ruft

A purely visual mix-up. rafft ([ʁaft]) and ruft ([ʁuːft]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47850, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rafft is recorded at frequency rank #45,532, classified as averb, pronounced [ʁaft]. ruft is at rank #2,318, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʁuːft].

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 47850, this pair ranks #1,269,726 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rafft vs ruft

Shared letters: frt. Private to "rafft": a. Private to "ruft": u.

"rafft" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "ruft" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rafft ← arfft · rafftt · raft · raftf · rfaft · rrafft
  • ruft ← rfut · rruft · rufft · ruftt · rutf · urft

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rafft" and "ruft" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ʁaft] versus [ʁuːft]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "rafft" or "ruft" show up more?
"ruft" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,318 in our German list, against #45,532 for "rafft". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "rafft" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ruft" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,269,726 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rafft" and "ruft" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rafft vs rappt". 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 #1,269,726 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