reinevsRuneConfusable pair

Quick tell: reine is a adjective, Rune is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“reine” is an adjective and “Rune” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,068
“reine” frequency rank
#40,805
“Rune” frequency rank
43873
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reine Rune
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs rein älteste Schriftzeichen der Germanen

Where the eye mixes reine and Rune

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. reine runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against Rune's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
reine
4 ch
Rune

Why the eye confuses reine with Rune

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: reine is [ˈʁaɪ̯nə] while Rune is [ˈʁuːnə]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43873, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reine is recorded at frequency rank #3,068, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʁaɪ̯nə]. Rune is at rank #40,805, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁuːnə].

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 43873, this pair ranks #1,404,238 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of reine vs Rune

Shared letters: enr. Private to "reine": i. Private to "Rune": u.

"reine" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "Rune" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reine ← erine · reien · reinne · renie · riene · rreine
  • Rune ← rnue · rrune · ruen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "reine" and "Rune" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "reine" is an adjective and "Rune" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "reine" or "Rune"?
"reine" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,068 in our German list, against #40,805 for "Rune". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "reine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Rune" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,404,238 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reine" and "Rune" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "RUB vs Rune". 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 #1,404,238 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