Which to use
“robot” and “roots” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,365
- “robot” frequency rank
- #38,977
- “roots” frequency rank
- 67342
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | robot | roots |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Roboter | Plural des Substantivs root |
Where the eye mixes robot and roots
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses robot with roots
A purely visual mix-up. robot ([ˈrəʊbɒt]) and roots ([ɹuːts]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67342, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
robot is recorded at frequency rank #28,365, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈrəʊbɒt]. roots is at rank #38,977, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɹuːts].
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 67342, this pair ranks #543,297 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of robot vs roots
Shared letters: ort. Private to "robot": b. Private to "roots": s.
"robot" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "roots" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "robot" for "roots" ever safe?
Which is more common, "robot" or "roots"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "robot" and "roots" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "robot" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "roots" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #543,297 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "robot" and "roots" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Rios vs roots". 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 #543,297 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.