RaupevsrouteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#24,084
“Raupe” frequency rank
#5,299
“route” frequency rank
29383
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Raupe route
Definition wurmförmige Larve des Schmetterlings oder der Blattwespe mit beißenden Mundteilen, kurzen bekrallten Brustfüßen und stummelförmigen Afterfüßen Straße, Landstraße

Where the eye mixes Raupe and route

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

5 ch
Raupe
5 ch
route

Why the eye confuses Raupe with route

A purely visual mix-up. Raupe ([ˈʁaʊ̯pə]) and route ([ʁut]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29383, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Raupe is recorded at frequency rank #24,084, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁaʊ̯pə]. route is at rank #5,299, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʁut].

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 29383, this pair ranks #1,767,795 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Raupe vs route

Shared letters: eru. Private to "Raupe": ap. Private to "route": ot.

"Raupe" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "route" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Raupearupe · rapue · rauep · rauppe · rraupe · ruape
  • routeorute · rotue · rouet · routte · rroute · ruote

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Raupe" and "route" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʁaʊ̯pə] versus [ʁut]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Raupe" or "route"?
"route" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,299 in our German list, against #24,084 for "Raupe". 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 "Raupe" and "route" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Raupe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "route" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,767,795 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Raupe" and "route" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "raunen vs Raupe". 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 #1,767,795 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