Which to use
“Rothe” is a name and “rotten” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,265
- “Rothe” frequency rank
- #34,340
- “rotten” frequency rank
- 64605
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Rothe | rotten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ortsteil der Stadt Beverungen, bis 1969 selbstständige Gemeinde | faulen, verfallen |
Where the eye mixes Rothe and rotten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Rothe runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against rotten's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: Rothe vs rotten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Rothe is [ˈʁoːtə] while rotten is [ˈʁɔtn̩]. 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 (name vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64605, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Rothe is recorded at frequency rank #30,265, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈʁoːtə]. rotten is at rank #34,340, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁɔtn̩].
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 64605, this pair ranks #635,593 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Rothe vs rotten
Shared letters: eort. Private to "Rothe": h. Private to "rotten": n.
"Rothe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "rotten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Rothe" for "rotten" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "Rothe" or "rotten" 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 "Rothe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "rotten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #635,593 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Rothe" and "rotten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rollten vs rotten". 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 #635,593 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.