ragtevsratenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#46,219
“ragte” frequency rank
#4,067
“raten” frequency rank
50286
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ragte raten
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs ragen einen Rat geben/erteilen, empfehlen

Where the eye mixes ragte and raten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
ragte
5 ch
raten

Look-alike desk: ragte vs raten

A purely visual mix-up. ragte ([ˈʁaːktə]) and raten ([ˈʁaːtn̩]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50286, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ragte is recorded at frequency rank #46,219, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʁaːktə]. raten is at rank #4,067, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁaːtn̩].

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 50286, this pair ranks #1,179,437 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ragte vs raten

Shared letters: aert. Private to "ragte": g. Private to "raten": n.

"ragte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "raten" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ragteargte · raget · raggte · ragtte · ratge · rgate · rragte
  • ratenraetn · ratenn · ratne · rraten · rtaen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ragte" and "raten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʁaːktə] versus [ˈʁaːtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ragte" or "raten"?
"raten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,067 in our German list, against #46,219 for "ragte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "ragte" and "raten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ragte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "raten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,179,437 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ragte" and "raten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "RAe vs ragte". 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 #1,179,437 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