ragtevsRatesTell them apart

Quick tell: ragte is a verb, Rates is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ragte” is a verb and “Rates” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,219
“ragte” frequency rank
#9,075
“Rates” frequency rank
55294
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ragte Rates
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs ragen Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Rat

Where the eye mixes ragte and Rates

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

5 ch
ragte
5 ch
Rates

Why the eye confuses ragte with Rates

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ragte is [ˈʁaːktə] while Rates is [ˈʁaːtəs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55294, 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]. Rates is at rank #9,075, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁaːtəs].

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 55294, this pair ranks #985,202 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ragte vs Rates

Shared letters: aert. Private to "ragte": g. Private to "Rates": s.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ragteargte · raget · raggte · ragtte · ratge · rgate · rragte
  • Ratesartes · raets · ratess · ratse · rattes · rrates · rtaes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ragte" and "Rates" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ragte" is a verb and "Rates" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "ragte" vs "Rates" - which ranks higher?
"Rates" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,075 in our German list, against #46,219 for "ragte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "ragte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Rates" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #985,202 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ragte" and "Rates" 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 #985,202 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