ragenvsruhenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#22,473
“ragen” frequency rank
#8,268
“ruhen” frequency rank
30741
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ragen ruhen
Definition sich durch eine vertikale Aufrichtung von der restlichen Umgebung abheben sich erholen, eine Pause machen

Where the eye mixes ragen and ruhen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. ragen and ruhen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
ragen
5 ch
ruhen

Look-alike desk: ragen vs ruhen

A purely visual mix-up. ragen ([ˈʁaːɡn̩]) and ruhen ([ˈʁuːən]) 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 30741, 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]. ruhen is at rank #8,268, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁuːən].

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 30741, this pair ranks #1,741,976 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ragen vs ruhen

Shared letters: enr. Private to "ragen": ag. Private to "ruhen": hu.

"ragen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "ruhen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ragenraegn · ragenn · raggen · rgaen · rragen
  • ruhenrhuen · rruhen · ruehn · ruhenn · ruhhen · ruhne · urhen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ragen" and "ruhen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʁaːɡn̩] versus [ˈʁuːən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ragen" vs "ruhen" - which ranks higher?
"ruhen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,268 in our German list, against #22,473 for "ragen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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 "ruhen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,741,976 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ragen" and "ruhen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ragen 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 #1,741,976 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