rotvsRuthTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#1,020
“rot” frequency rank
#8,127
“Ruth” frequency rank
9147
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rot Ruth
Definition eine bunte Farbe, im Spektrum die langwelligste Farbe; eine der drei Grundfarben des digitalen RGB-Farbraums weiblicher Vorname

Where the eye mixes rot and Ruth

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

3 ch
rot
4 ch
Ruth

Why the eye confuses rot with Ruth

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rot is [ʁoːt] while Ruth is [ʁuːt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9147, 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]. Ruth is at rank #8,127, tagged as aname, pronounced [ʁuːt].

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 9147, this pair ranks #1,981,279 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of rot vs Ruth

Shared letters: rt. Private to "rot": o. Private to "Ruth": hu.

"rot" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Ruth" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Ruthrruth · rtuh · ruthh · rutth · urth

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "rot" for "Ruth" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rot" is an adjective and "Ruth" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "rot" vs "Ruth" - which ranks higher?
"rot" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,020 in our German list, against #8,127 for "Ruth". 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 "rot" and "Ruth" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rot" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Ruth" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,981,279 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rot" and "Ruth" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "RUB vs Ruth". 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 #1,981,279 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