RautevsrufeTell them apart

Quick tell: Raute is a noun, rufe is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Raute” is a noun and “rufe” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,734
“Raute” frequency rank
#6,967
“rufe” frequency rank
39701
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Raute rufe
Definition Viereck mit vier gleichlangen Seiten 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs rufen

Where the eye mixes Raute and rufe

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

5 ch
Raute
4 ch
rufe

Why the eye confuses Raute with rufe

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Raute is [ˈʁaʊ̯tə] while rufe is [ˈʁuːfə]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39701, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Raute is recorded at frequency rank #32,734, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁaʊ̯tə]. rufe is at rank #6,967, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁuːfə].

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 39701, this pair ranks #1,529,371 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Raute vs rufe

Shared letters: eru. Private to "Raute": at. Private to "rufe": f.

"Raute" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "rufe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Rautearute · ratue · rauet · rautte · rraute · ruate
  • ruferfue · rrufe · ruef · ruffe · urfe

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Raute" and "rufe" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Raute" is a noun and "rufe" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Raute" or "rufe"?
"rufe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,967 in our German list, against #32,734 for "Raute". 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 "Raute" and "rufe" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Raute" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rufe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,529,371 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Raute" and "rufe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "raunen vs Raute". 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 #1,529,371 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