rotenvsRotorWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#1,677
“roten” frequency rank
#46,242
“Rotor” frequency rank
47919
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature roten Rotor
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs rot rotierendes Teil einer Maschine

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set roten and Rotor apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
roten
5 ch
Rotor

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: roten is [ˈʁoːtn̩] while Rotor is [ˈʁoːtoːɐ̯]. 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 47919, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

roten is recorded at frequency rank #1,677, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʁoːtn̩]. Rotor is at rank #46,242, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁoːtoːɐ̯].

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 47919, this pair ranks #1,267,299 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of roten vs Rotor

Shared letters: ort. Private to "roten": en. Private to "Rotor": -.

"roten" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Rotor" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rotenroetn · rotenn · rotne · rroten · rtoen
  • Rotorortor · rootr · rotorr · rotro · rottor · rrotor · rtoor

Frequency comparison

roten#1,677
Rotor#46,242

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "roten" and "Rotor" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "roten" is an adjective and "Rotor" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "roten" or "Rotor"?
"roten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,677 in our German list, against #46,242 for "Rotor". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering roten vs Rotor

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “roten”; for a noun, it's “Rotor”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “roten” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list