regnenvsRuinenTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#14,906
“regnen” frequency rank
#12,372
“Ruinen” frequency rank
27278
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature regnen Ruinen
Definition in Tropfenform zu Boden fallen Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Ruine

Where the eye mixes regnen and Ruinen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
regnen
6 ch
Ruinen

Look-alike desk: regnen vs Ruinen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: regnen is [ˈʁeːɡnən] while Ruinen is [ʁuˈiːnən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27278, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

regnen is recorded at frequency rank #14,906, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʁeːɡnən]. Ruinen is at rank #12,372, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʁuˈiːnən].

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 27278, this pair ranks #1,804,383 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of regnen vs Ruinen

Shared letters: enr. Private to "regnen": g. Private to "Ruinen": iu.

"regnen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Ruinen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • regnenergnen · reggnen · regnenn · regnne · regnnen · rengen · rgenen · rregnen
  • Ruinenriunen · rruinen · ruienn · ruinenn · ruinne · ruinnen · runien · urinen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "regnen" and "Ruinen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "regnen" is a verb and "Ruinen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "regnen" vs "Ruinen" - which ranks higher?
"Ruinen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,372 in our German list, against #14,906 for "regnen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "regnen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Ruinen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,804,383 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "regnen" and "Ruinen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "raunen vs regnen". 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 #1,804,383 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