rosvsrottWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#40,800
“ros” frequency rank
#30,266
“rott” frequency rank
71066
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ros rott
Definition blond im Verfall/in Zersetzung begriffen

Where the eye mixes ros and rott

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

3 ch
ros
4 ch
rott

Look-alike desk: ros vs rott

A purely visual mix-up. ros ([ros]) and rott ([ʁɔt]) 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 71066, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ros is recorded at frequency rank #40,800, classified as anadj, pronounced [ros]. rott is at rank #30,266, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ʁɔt].

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 71066, this pair ranks #427,784 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ros vs rott

Shared letters: or. Private to "ros": s. Private to "rott": t.

"ros" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "rott" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rottortt · rrott · rtot

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ros" and "rott" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ros] versus [ʁɔt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "ros" or "rott" show up more?
"rott" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,266 in our German list, against #40,800 for "ros". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "ros" and "rott" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ros" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rott" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #427,784 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ros" and "rott" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ros vs RUB". 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 #427,784 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