ri vs Ruh, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“ri” is a pronoun and “Ruh” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#19,020
“ri” frequency rank: #18,679
“Ruh” frequency rank: 37699
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ri	Ruh
Definition	geschlechtsunabhängiges Personalpronomen der 3. Person Singular für Personen	ein Zustand der Ungestörtheit

Where the eye mixes ri and Ruh

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch

3 ch

Ruh

Why the eye confuses ri with Ruh

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ri is [ri] while Ruh is [ʁuː]. 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 (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37699, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ri is recorded at frequency rank #19,020, classified as apron, pronounced [ri]. Ruh is at rank #18,679, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʁuː].

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 37699, this pair ranks #1,583,376 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ri vs Ruh

Shared letters: r. Private to "ri": i. Private to "Ruh": hu.

"ri" · 2 letters · shape CV · "Ruh" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ri" and "Ruh" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ri" is a pronoun and "Ruh" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

In ordinary German text, does "ri" or "Ruh" show up more?

"Ruh" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,679 in our German list, against #19,020 for "ri". 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 "ri" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "Ruh" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #1,583,376 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ri" and "Ruh" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ri vs RUB". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,583,376 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.