Which to use
“role” is a noun and “rote” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #35,998
- “role” frequency rank
- #1,901
- “rote” frequency rank
- 37899
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | role | rote |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | die Rolle | Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs rot |
Letter map: role vs rote
Shared letters muted; letters that set role and rote apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.
Grammar separator: role vs rote
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: role is anoun and roteanadjective. On the page they differ by a single letter - l in “role” becomes t in “rote”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37899, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
role is recorded at frequency rank #35,998, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. rote is at rank #1,901, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʁoːtə].
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 37899, this pair ranks #1,578,159 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of role vs rote
Shared letters: eor. Private to "role": l. Private to "rote": t.
"role" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "rote" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "role" and "rote" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "role" or "rote" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pair "role" vs "rote" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "role" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "rote" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,578,159 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "role" and "rote" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs role". 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 #1,578,159 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.