Which to use
“Rates” is a noun and “rotes” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,075
- “Rates” frequency rank
- #9,617
- “rotes” frequency rank
- 18692
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Rates | rotes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Rat | Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs rot |
Where the eye mixes Rates and rotes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between Rates and rotes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Rates is [ˈʁaːtəs] while rotes is [ˈʁoːtəs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “Rates” becomes o in “rotes”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18692, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Rates is recorded at frequency rank #9,075, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁaːtəs]. rotes is at rank #9,617, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʁoːtəs].
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 18692, this pair ranks #1,915,813 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Rates vs rotes
Shared letters: erst. Private to "Rates": a. Private to "rotes": o.
"Rates" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "rotes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Rates" for "rotes" ever safe?
Frequency check: "Rates" vs "rotes" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "Rates" and "rotes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Rates" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "rotes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,915,813 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Rates" and "rotes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Rades vs rotes". 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 #1,915,813 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.