RasurvsrauerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Rasur is a noun, rauer is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Rasur” is a noun and “rauer” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,159
“Rasur” frequency rank
#38,353
“rauer” frequency rank
78512
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Rasur rauer
Definition teilweise oder vollständige Entfernung der Körperbehaarung (vor allem des Bartes) durch Rasieren Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs rau

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Rasur and rauer apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
Rasur
5 ch
rauer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Rasur is [ʁaˈzuːɐ̯] while rauer is [ˈʁaʊ̯ɐ]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78512, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Rasur is recorded at frequency rank #40,159, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʁaˈzuːɐ̯]. rauer is at rank #38,353, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʁaʊ̯ɐ].

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 78512, this pair ranks #236,687 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Rasur vs rauer

Shared letters: aru. Private to "Rasur": s. Private to "rauer": e.

"Rasur" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "rauer" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Rasurarsur · rasru · rassur · rasurr · rausr · rrasur · rsaur
  • raueraruer · raeur · rauerr · raure · rrauer · ruaer

Frequency comparison

Rasur#40,159
rauer#38,353

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Rasur" and "rauer" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Rasur" is a noun and "rauer" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Rasur" or "rauer"?
"rauer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,353 in our German list, against #40,159 for "Rasur". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Rasur vs rauer

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Rasur”; for an adjective, it's “rauer”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Rasur” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list