Which to use
“Rost” is a noun and “rösten” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,913
- “Rost” frequency rank
- #45,557
- “rösten” frequency rank
- 60470
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Rost | rösten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | rötlich braunes Produkt der Korrosion von Eisen | Flachs oder Hanf zum Gewinnen von Pflanzenfasern mürbe machen |
Where the eye mixes Rost and rösten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Rost runs 4 letters (CVCC) against rösten's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses Rost with rösten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Rost is [ʁɔst] while rösten is [ˈʁœstn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60470, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Rost is recorded at frequency rank #14,913, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʁɔst]. 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 60470, this pair ranks #785,787 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Rost vs rösten
Shared letters: rst. Private to "Rost": o. Private to "rösten": enö.
"Rost" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "rösten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- Rost ← orst · rosst · rostt · rots · rrost · rsot
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Rost" and "rösten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "Rost" or "rösten" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "Rost" 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 #785,787 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Rost" 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 #785,787 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.