rettevsruhteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#25,285
“rette” frequency rank
#36,599
“ruhte” frequency rank
61884
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rette ruhte
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs retten 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs ruhen

Where the eye mixes rette and ruhte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
rette
5 ch
ruhte

Visual trap between rette and ruhte

A purely visual mix-up. rette ([ˈʁɛtə]) and ruhte ([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 61884, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rette is recorded at frequency rank #25,285, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʁɛtə]. ruhte is at rank #36,599, tagged as averb, 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 61884, this pair ranks #733,103 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rette vs ruhte

Shared letters: ert. Private to "rette": -. Private to "ruhte": hu.

"rette" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "ruhte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • retteertte · rete · rrette
  • ruhterhute · rruhte · ruhet · ruhhte · ruhtte · ruthe · urhte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rette" and "ruhte" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʁɛtə] versus [ˈʁuːtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "rette" or "ruhte" show up more?
"rette" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,285 in our German list, against #36,599 for "ruhte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "rette" and "ruhte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rette" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ruhte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #733,103 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rette" and "ruhte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rühmen vs ruhte". 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 #733,103 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