Which to use
“rote” is an adjective and “ruhte” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,901
- “rote” frequency rank
- #36,599
- “ruhte” frequency rank
- 38500
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | rote | ruhte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs rot | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs ruhen |
Where the eye mixes rote and ruhte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between rote and ruhte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rote is [ˈʁoːtə] while ruhte is [ˈʁuːtə]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38500, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
rote is recorded at frequency rank #1,901, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʁoːtə]. ruhte is at rank #36,599, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁuːtə].
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 38500, this pair ranks #1,562,325 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of rote vs ruhte
Shared letters: ert. Private to "rote": o. Private to "ruhte": hu.
"rote" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "ruhte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "rote" for "ruhte" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "rote" or "ruhte" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "rote" and "ruhte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "rote" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ruhte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,562,325 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "rote" and "ruhte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rühmen vs ruhte". 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 #1,562,325 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.