rastenvsRussenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#26,580
“rasten” frequency rank
#3,681
“Russen” frequency rank
30261
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rasten Russen
Definition sich ausruhen, (bei körperlicher Anstrengung) eine Pause einlegen Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Russe

Where the eye mixes rasten and Russen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. rasten and Russen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
rasten
6 ch
Russen

Why the eye confuses rasten with Russen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rasten is [ˈʁastn̩] while Russen is [ˈʁʊsn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 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 30261, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rasten is recorded at frequency rank #26,580, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʁastn̩]. Russen is at rank #3,681, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁʊsn̩].

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 30261, this pair ranks #1,751,329 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of rasten vs Russen

Shared letters: enrs. Private to "rasten": at. Private to "Russen": u.

"rasten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Russen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rasten ← arsten · rasetn · rassten · rastenn · rastne · rastten · ratsen · rrasten
  • Russen ← rrussen · rsusen · rusen · rusesn · russenn · russne · rußen · urssen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rasten" and "Russen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rasten" is a verb and "Russen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "rasten" vs "Russen" - which ranks higher?
"Russen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,681 in our German list, against #26,580 for "rasten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "rasten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Russen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,751,329 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rasten" and "Russen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rasten vs raunen". 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 #1,751,329 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