RautevsRuteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#32,734
“Raute” frequency rank
#37,750
“Rute” frequency rank
70484
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Raute Rute
Definition Viereck mit vier gleichlangen Seiten meist zusammengebundene lange, dünne und flexible Zweige (ohne Blätter), Gerte

Where the eye mixes Raute and Rute

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Raute runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against Rute's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Raute
4 ch
Rute

Visual trap between Raute and Rute

A purely visual mix-up. Raute ([ˈʁaʊ̯tə]) and Rute ([ˈʁuːtə]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70484, 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]. Rute is at rank #37,750, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁuːtə].

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 70484, this pair ranks #444,969 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Raute vs Rute

Shared letters: ertu. Private to "Raute": a. Private to "Rute": -.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Raute ← arute · ratue · rauet · rautte · rraute · ruate
  • Rute ← rrute · ruet · rutte · urte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Raute" for "Rute" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʁaʊ̯tə] versus [ˈʁuːtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Raute" vs "Rute" - which ranks higher?
"Raute" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,734 in our German list, against #37,750 for "Rute". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Raute" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Rute" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #444,969 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Raute" and "Rute" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "RUB vs Rute". 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 #444,969 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