robvsRufTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#11,958
“rob” frequency rank
#2,317
“Ruf” frequency rank
14275
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rob Ruf
Definition einer Person oder einer Institution (Bank, Laden) unerlaubt und meist gewaltsam Geld oder Eigentum wegnehmen: berauben ein Laut, der an jemanden adressiert ist

Letter map: rob vs Ruf

Shared letters muted; letters that set rob and Ruf apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
rob
3 ch
Ruf

Part-of-speech tell for rob / Ruf

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: rob is averb and Rufanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14275, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rob is recorded at frequency rank #11,958, classified as averb, pronounced […]. Ruf is at rank #2,317, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʁuːf].

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 14275, this pair ranks #1,952,352 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of rob vs Ruf

Shared letters: r. Private to "rob": bo. Private to "Ruf": fu.

"rob" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Ruf" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "rob" for "Ruf" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rob" is a verb and "Ruf" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "rob" vs "Ruf" - which ranks higher?
"Ruf" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,317 in our German list, against #11,958 for "rob". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "rob" vs "Ruf" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rob" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Ruf" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,952,352 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rob" and "Ruf" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs rob". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,952,352 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