RehevsRuteConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#32,739
“Rehe” frequency rank
#37,750
“Rute” frequency rank
70489
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Rehe Rute
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Reh meist zusammengebundene lange, dünne und flexible Zweige (ohne Blätter), Gerte

Where the eye mixes Rehe and Rute

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Rehe and Rute follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
Rehe
4 ch
Rute

Look-alike desk: Rehe vs Rute

A purely visual mix-up. Rehe ([ˈʁeːə]) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70489, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Rehe is recorded at frequency rank #32,739, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁeːə]. 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 70489, this pair ranks #444,825 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Rehe vs Rute

Shared letters: er. Private to "Rehe": h. Private to "Rute": tu.

"Rehe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Rute" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Rehe ← reeh · rehhe · rhee · rrehe
  • Rute ← rrute · ruet · rutte · urte

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Rehe" and "Rute" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʁeːə] versus [ˈʁuːtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Rehe" or "Rute" show up more?
"Rehe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,739 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

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Rehe" 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 #444,825 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Rehe" 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 #444,825 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