Which to use
“ran” is an adverb and “rana” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,914
- “ran” frequency rank
- #44,865
- “rana” frequency rank
- 48779
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ran | rana |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | in die Richtung zu einem Objekt und dabei auch zum Sprecher hin; auf den Sprechenden zu; in die Nähe einer Sache oder des Sprechers | der Erde nächster Stern; Sonne |
Where the eye mixes ran and rana
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between ran and rana
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ran is [ʁan] while rana is [ɽáːnáː]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “ran” sits inside “rana”, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48779, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ran is recorded at frequency rank #3,914, classified as anadv, pronounced [ʁan]. rana is at rank #44,865, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɽáːnáː].
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 48779, this pair ranks #1,235,960 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ran vs rana
Shared letters: anr. Private to "ran": -. Private to "rana": -.
"ran" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "rana" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- rana ← arna · raan · ranna · rnaa · rrana
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ran" and "rana" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "ran" or "rana" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "ran" and "rana" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ran" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "rana" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,235,960 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ran" and "rana" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rana vs RSA". 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 #1,235,960 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.