Which to use
“raucht” and “rauchte” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,393
- “raucht” frequency rank
- #42,072
- “rauchte” frequency rank
- 56465
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | raucht | rauchte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs rauchen | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs rauchen |
Where the eye mixes raucht and rauchte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. raucht runs 6 letters (CVVCCC) against rauchte's 7 (CVVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses raucht with rauchte
A purely visual mix-up. raucht ([ʁaʊ̯xt]) and rauchte ([ˈʁaʊ̯xtə]) 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 extra letter(s) - “raucht” sits inside “rauchte”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56465, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
raucht is recorded at frequency rank #14,393, classified as averb, pronounced [ʁaʊ̯xt]. rauchte is at rank #42,072, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁaʊ̯xtə].
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 56465, this pair ranks #939,123 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of raucht vs rauchte
Shared letters: achrtu. Private to "raucht": -. Private to "rauchte": e.
"raucht" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC · "rauchte" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "raucht" for "rauchte" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "raucht" or "rauchte" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "raucht" and "rauchte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "raucht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "rauchte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #939,123 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "raucht" and "rauchte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rauchst vs rauchte". 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 #939,123 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.