Which to use
“ratet” is a verb and “rauer” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33,249
- “ratet” frequency rank
- #38,353
- “rauer” frequency rank
- 71602
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ratet | rauer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Plural Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs raten | Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs rau |
Where the eye mixes ratet and rauer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. ratet (CVCVC) and rauer (CVVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: ratet vs rauer
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ratet is [ˈʁaːtət] 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 71602, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ratet is recorded at frequency rank #33,249, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʁaːtət]. 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 71602, this pair ranks #412,115 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ratet vs rauer
Shared letters: aer. Private to "ratet": t. Private to "rauer": u.
"ratet" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "rauer" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ratet" for "rauer" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "ratet" or "rauer" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "ratet" 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 #412,115 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ratet" 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 #412,115 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.