raufvsRuWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: rauf is a adverb, Ru is an abbrev, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“rauf” is an adverb and “Ru” is an abbrev - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,157
“rauf” frequency rank
#24,484
“Ru” frequency rank
34641
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rauf Ru
Definition nach oben, hin zum Sprecher Ruthenium

Letter map: rauf vs Ru

Shared letters muted; letters that set rauf and Ru apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
rauf
2 ch
Ru

Grammar separator: rauf vs Ru

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: rauf is anadverb and Ruanabbrev. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34641, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rauf is recorded at frequency rank #10,157, classified as anadv, pronounced [ʁaʊ̯f]. Ru is at rank #24,484, tagged as anabbrev.

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 34641, this pair ranks #1,658,630 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of rauf vs Ru

Shared letters: ru. Private to "rauf": af. Private to "Ru": -.

"rauf" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "Ru" · 2 letters · shape CV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • raufaruf · rafu · rauff · rrauf · ruaf

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "rauf" for "Ru" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rauf" is an adverb and "Ru" an abbrev, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "rauf" or "Ru" show up more?
"rauf" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,157 in our German list, against #24,484 for "Ru". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "rauf" and "Ru". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rauf" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Ru" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,658,630 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rauf" and "Ru" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ru 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 #1,658,630 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