rohevsrufeWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: rohe is a adjective, rufe is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“rohe” is an adjective and “rufe” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#22,484
“rohe” frequency rank
#6,967
“rufe” frequency rank
29451
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rohe rufe
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs roh 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs rufen

Where the eye mixes rohe and rufe

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

4 ch
rohe
4 ch
rufe

Why the eye confuses rohe with rufe

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rohe is [ˈʁoːə] while rufe is [ˈʁuːfə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29451, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rohe is recorded at frequency rank #22,484, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʁoːə]. rufe is at rank #6,967, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁuːfə].

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 29451, this pair ranks #1,766,560 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of rohe vs rufe

Shared letters: er. Private to "rohe": ho. Private to "rufe": fu.

"rohe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "rufe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • roheorhe · rhoe · roeh · rohhe · rrohe
  • ruferfue · rrufe · ruef · ruffe · urfe

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "rohe" for "rufe" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rohe" is an adjective and "rufe" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "rohe" or "rufe"?
"rufe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,967 in our German list, against #22,484 for "rohe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rohe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rufe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,766,560 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rohe" and "rufe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rofl vs rohe". 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 #1,766,560 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