rauchevsrauschtWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: rauche is a adjective, rauscht is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“rauche” is an adjective and “rauscht” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,034
“rauche” frequency rank
#29,300
“rauscht” frequency rank
47334
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rauche rauscht
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs rauch 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs rauschen

Where the eye mixes rauche and rauscht

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. rauche runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against rauscht's 7 (CVVCCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
rauche
7 ch
rauscht

Look-alike desk: rauche vs rauscht

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rauche is [ˈʁaʊ̯xə] while rauscht is [ʁaʊ̯ʃt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47334, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rauche is recorded at frequency rank #18,034, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʁaʊ̯xə]. rauscht is at rank #29,300, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʁaʊ̯ʃt].

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 47334, this pair ranks #1,287,956 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rauche vs rauscht

Shared letters: achru. Private to "rauche": e. Private to "rauscht": st.

"rauche" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "rauscht" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rauche ← aruche · racuhe · raucche · rauceh · rauchhe · rauhce · rrauche · ruache
  • rauscht ← aruscht · rasucht · raucsht · rausccht · rauschht · rauschtt · rauscth · raushct

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "rauche" and "rauscht" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rauche" is an adjective and "rauscht" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "rauche" or "rauscht" show up more?
"rauche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,034 in our German list, against #29,300 for "rauscht". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rauche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rauscht" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,287,956 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rauche" and "rauscht" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Rauscher vs rauscht". 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 #1,287,956 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