RattevsregteWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#16,809
“Ratte” frequency rank
#20,032
“regte” frequency rank
36841
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ratte regte
Definition mausähnliches Nagetier 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs regen

Where the eye mixes Ratte and regte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Ratte
5 ch
regte

Look-alike desk: Ratte vs regte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Ratte is [ˈʁatə] while regte is [ˈʁeːktə]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36841, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ratte is recorded at frequency rank #16,809, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁatə]. regte is at rank #20,032, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁeːktə].

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 36841, this pair ranks #1,605,357 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Ratte vs regte

Shared letters: ert. Private to "Ratte": a. Private to "regte": g.

"Ratte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "regte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Ratterratte · rtate
  • regteergte · reget · reggte · regtte · retge · rgete · rregte

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Ratte" and "regte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Ratte" is a noun and "regte" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Ratte" or "regte"?
"Ratte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,809 in our German list, against #20,032 for "regte". 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 "Ratte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "regte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,605,357 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ratte" and "regte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "regst vs regte". 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 #1,605,357 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