Which to use
“röhren” and “rotten” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,027
- “röhren” frequency rank
- #34,340
- “rotten” frequency rank
- 53367
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | röhren | rotten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | (laut) weinen | faulen, verfallen |
Where the eye mixes röhren and rotten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. röhren and rotten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses röhren with rotten
A purely visual mix-up. röhren ([ˈʁøːʁən]) and rotten ([ˈʁɔtn̩]) 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 53367, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
röhren is recorded at frequency rank #19,027, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʁøːʁən]. rotten is at rank #34,340, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁɔtn̩].
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 53367, this pair ranks #1,060,790 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of röhren vs rotten
Shared letters: enr. Private to "röhren": hö. Private to "rotten": ot.
"röhren" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "rotten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- rotten ← rotetn · rottenn · rottne · rrotten · rtoten
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "röhren" and "rotten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "röhren" or "rotten"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "röhren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "rotten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,060,790 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "röhren" and "rotten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rollten vs rotten". 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 #1,060,790 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.