ragenvsraunenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#22,473
“ragen” frequency rank
#49,191
“raunen” frequency rank
71664
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ragen raunen
Definition sich durch eine vertikale Aufrichtung von der restlichen Umgebung abheben mit gedämpfter Stimme sprechen

Where the eye mixes ragen and raunen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. ragen runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against raunen's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
ragen
6 ch
raunen

Look-alike desk: ragen vs raunen

A purely visual mix-up. ragen ([ˈʁaːɡn̩]) and raunen ([ˈʁaʊ̯nən]) 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 71664, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ragen is recorded at frequency rank #22,473, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʁaːɡn̩]. raunen is at rank #49,191, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁaʊ̯nən].

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 71664, this pair ranks #410,410 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ragen vs raunen

Shared letters: aenr. Private to "ragen": g. Private to "raunen": u.

"ragen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "raunen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ragen ← raegn · ragenn · raggen · rgaen · rragen
  • raunen ← arunen · ranuen · raunenn · raunne · raunnen · rraunen · ruanen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ragen" and "raunen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʁaːɡn̩] versus [ˈʁaʊ̯nən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "ragen" or "raunen" show up more?
"ragen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,473 in our German list, against #49,191 for "raunen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ragen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "raunen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #410,410 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ragen" and "raunen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ramen vs raunen". 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 #410,410 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