rotvsRuhWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: rot is a adjective, Ruh is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“rot” is an adjective and “Ruh” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,020
“rot” frequency rank
#18,679
“Ruh” frequency rank
19699
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rot Ruh
Definition eine bunte Farbe, im Spektrum die langwelligste Farbe; eine der drei Grundfarben des digitalen RGB-Farbraums ein Zustand der Ungestörtheit

Where the eye mixes rot and Ruh

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
rot
3 ch
Ruh

Look-alike desk: rot vs Ruh

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rot is [ʁoːt] while Ruh is [ʁuː]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19699, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rot is recorded at frequency rank #1,020, classified as anadj, pronounced [ʁoːt]. Ruh is at rank #18,679, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʁuː].

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 19699, this pair ranks #1,905,571 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of rot vs Ruh

Shared letters: r. Private to "rot": ot. Private to "Ruh": hu.

"rot" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Ruh" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "rot" for "Ruh" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rot" is an adjective and "Ruh" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "rot" or "Ruh"?
"rot" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,020 in our German list, against #18,679 for "Ruh". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rot" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Ruh" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,905,571 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rot" and "Ruh" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "RUB vs Ruh". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,905,571 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