rodenvsröstenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#34,337
“roden” frequency rank
#45,557
“rösten” frequency rank
79894
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature roden rösten
Definition einen Wald durch Fällen der Bäume und Ausgraben der Wurzeln urbar machen Flachs oder Hanf zum Gewinnen von Pflanzenfasern mürbe machen

Where the eye mixes roden and rösten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. roden runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against rösten's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
roden
6 ch
rösten

Why the eye confuses roden with rösten

A purely visual mix-up. roden ([ˈʁoːdn̩]) and rösten ([ˈʁœstn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79894, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

roden is recorded at frequency rank #34,337, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʁoːdn̩]. rösten is at rank #45,557, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁœstn̩].

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 79894, this pair ranks #206,814 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of roden vs rösten

Shared letters: enr. Private to "roden": do. Private to "rösten": stö.

"roden" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "rösten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • roden ← rdoen · rodden · rodenn · rodne · roedn · rroden

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "roden" and "rösten" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʁoːdn̩] versus [ˈʁœstn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "roden" or "rösten" show up more?
"roden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,337 in our German list, against #45,557 for "rösten". 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 "roden" and "rösten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "roden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rösten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #206,814 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "roden" and "rösten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rollten vs rösten". 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 #206,814 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