retrovsretteWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#12,574
“retro” frequency rank
#25,285
“rette” frequency rank
37859
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature retro rette
Definition Rückseite 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs retten

Letter map: retro vs rette

Shared letters muted; letters that set retro and rette apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
retro
5 ch
rette

Grammar separator: retro vs rette

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: retro is anoun and retteaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37859, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

retro is recorded at frequency rank #12,574, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. rette is at rank #25,285, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁɛtə].

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 37859, this pair ranks #1,579,190 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of retro vs rette

Shared letters: ert. Private to "retro": o. Private to "rette": -.

"retro" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "rette" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • retroertro · rerto · retor · retrro · rettro · rretro · rtero
  • retteertte · rete · rrette

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "retro" and "rette" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "retro" is a noun and "rette" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "retro" or "rette" show up more?
"retro" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,574 in our German list, against #25,285 for "rette". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "retro" vs "rette" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "retro" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rette" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,579,190 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "retro" and "rette" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ragte vs rette". 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 #1,579,190 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