ragtevsRatsWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#46,219
“ragte” frequency rank
#22,474
“Rats” frequency rank
68693
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes ragte and Rats

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
ragte
4 ch
Rats

Why the eye confuses ragte with Rats

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ragte is [ˈʁaːktə] while Rats is [ʁaːt͡s]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68693, 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]. Rats is at rank #22,474, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʁaːt͡s].

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 68693, this pair ranks #499,872 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ragte vs Rats

Shared letters: art. Private to "ragte": eg. Private to "Rats": s.

"ragte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Rats" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ragteargte · raget · raggte · ragtte · ratge · rgate · rragte
  • Ratsratss · ratts · rrats · rtas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ragte" for "Rats" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ragte" is a verb and "Rats" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "ragte" or "Rats" show up more?
"Rats" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,474 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 "Rats" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #499,872 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ragte" and "Rats" 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 #499,872 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