robevsRuneWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#31,244
“robe” frequency rank
#40,805
“Rune” frequency rank
72049
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature robe Rune
Definition Kleid, Robe älteste Schriftzeichen der Germanen

Where the eye mixes robe and Rune

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
robe
4 ch
Rune

Look-alike desk: robe vs Rune

A purely visual mix-up. robe ([ʁɔb]) and Rune ([ˈʁuːnə]) 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 72049, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

robe is recorded at frequency rank #31,244, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʁɔb]. Rune is at rank #40,805, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁuːnə].

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 72049, this pair ranks #399,299 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of robe vs Rune

Shared letters: er. Private to "robe": bo. Private to "Rune": nu.

"robe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Rune" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • robeorbe · rboe · roeb · rrobe
  • Runernue · rrune · ruen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "robe" and "Rune" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ʁɔb] versus [ˈʁuːnə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "robe" or "Rune" show up more?
"robe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,244 in our German list, against #40,805 for "Rune". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "robe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Rune" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #399,299 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "robe" and "Rune" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "RUB vs Rune". 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 #399,299 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