RahmvsrayWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#43,433
“Rahm” frequency rank
#4,925
“ray” frequency rank
48358
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Rahm ray
Definition fettreiche Phase der Milch, die beim Stehenlassen natürlicherweise oben aufschwimmt Strahl, der von einer Energiequelle ausgeht

Where the eye mixes Rahm and ray

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Rahm
3 ch
ray

Look-alike desk: Rahm vs ray

A purely visual mix-up. Rahm ([ʁaːm]) and ray ([ɹeɪ]) 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 48358, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Rahm is recorded at frequency rank #43,433, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʁaːm]. ray is at rank #4,925, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɹeɪ].

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 48358, this pair ranks #1,251,480 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Rahm vs ray

Shared letters: ar. Private to "Rahm": hm. Private to "ray": y.

"Rahm" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "ray" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Rahmarhm · rahhm · rahmm · ramh · rham · rrahm

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Rahm" for "ray" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ʁaːm] versus [ɹeɪ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Rahm" vs "ray" - which ranks higher?
"ray" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,925 in our German list, against #43,433 for "Rahm". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Rahm" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ray" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,251,480 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Rahm" and "ray" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rack vs Rahm". 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 #1,251,480 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