RaubvsrayWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“Raub” and “ray” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,348
“Raub” frequency rank
#4,925
“ray” frequency rank
15273
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Raub ray
Definition das gewaltsame Wegnehmen; das Rauben Strahl, der von einer Energiequelle ausgeht

Where the eye mixes Raub and ray

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Raub
3 ch
ray

Visual trap between Raub and ray

A purely visual mix-up. Raub ([ʁaʊ̯p]) and ray ([ɹeɪ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15273, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Raub is recorded at frequency rank #10,348, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʁaʊ̯p]. ray is at rank #4,925, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɹeɪ].

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 15273, this pair ranks #1,945,146 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Raub vs ray

Shared letters: ar. Private to "Raub": bu. Private to "ray": y.

"Raub" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "ray" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Raubarub · rabu · raubb · rraub · ruab

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Raub" for "ray" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ʁaʊ̯p] versus [ɹeɪ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Raub" or "ray" show up more?
"ray" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,925 in our German list, against #10,348 for "Raub". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Raub" and "ray" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Raub" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ray" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,945,146 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Raub" and "ray" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Raub vs RUB". 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 #1,945,146 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