rennenvsRuinenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#1,429
“rennen” frequency rank
#12,372
“Ruinen” frequency rank
13801
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rennen Ruinen
Definition sich schnell zu Fuß fortbewegen, schnell laufen Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Ruine

Where the eye mixes rennen and Ruinen

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

6 ch
rennen
6 ch
Ruinen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rennen is [ˈʁɛnən] 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 13801, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rennen is recorded at frequency rank #1,429, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʁɛnən]. 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 13801, this pair ranks #1,955,597 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of rennen vs Ruinen

Shared letters: enr. Private to "rennen": -. Private to "Ruinen": iu.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rennenernnen · renen · renenn · rennenn · rennne · rnenen · rrennen
  • Ruinenriunen · rruinen · ruienn · ruinenn · ruinne · ruinnen · runien · urinen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rennen" and "Ruinen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rennen" is a verb and "Ruinen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "rennen" or "Ruinen"?
"rennen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,429 in our German list, against #12,372 for "Ruinen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list