Which to use
“raten” is a verb and “rauer” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,067
- “raten” frequency rank
- #38,353
- “rauer” frequency rank
- 42420
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | raten | rauer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | einen Rat geben/erteilen, empfehlen | Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs rau |
Where the eye mixes raten and rauer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. raten (CVCVC) and rauer (CVVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses raten with rauer
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: raten is [ˈʁaːtn̩] 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42420, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
raten is recorded at frequency rank #4,067, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʁaːtn̩]. 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 42420, this pair ranks #1,449,840 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of raten vs rauer
Shared letters: aer. Private to "raten": nt. Private to "rauer": u.
"raten" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "rauer" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "raten" and "rauer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "raten" or "rauer"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "raten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "rauer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,449,840 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "raten" and "rauer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rauer 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 #1,449,840 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.