ranntevsrinneWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#13,674
“rannte” frequency rank
#28,831
“rinne” frequency rank
42505
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rannte rinne
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs rennen 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs rinnen

Where the eye mixes rannte and rinne

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

6 ch
rannte
5 ch
rinne

Visual trap between rannte and rinne

A purely visual mix-up. rannte ([ˈʁantə]) and rinne ([ˈʁɪnə]) 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 42505, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rannte is recorded at frequency rank #13,674, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʁantə]. rinne is at rank #28,831, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁɪnə].

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 42505, this pair ranks #1,447,233 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rannte vs rinne

Shared letters: enr. Private to "rannte": at. Private to "rinne": i.

"rannte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "rinne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ranntearnnte · rannet · ranntte · rante · rantne · rnante · rrannte
  • rinneirnne · rine · rinen · rnine · rrinne

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "rannte" and "rinne" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʁantə] versus [ˈʁɪnə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "rannte" or "rinne" show up more?
"rannte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,674 in our German list, against #28,831 for "rinne". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "rannte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rinne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,447,233 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rannte" and "rinne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rinne vs rinnen". 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 #1,447,233 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