rottenvsRouterConfusable pair

Quick tell: rotten is a verb, Router is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“rotten” is a verb and “Router” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,340
“rotten” frequency rank
#9,799
“Router” frequency rank
44139
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rotten Router
Definition faulen, verfallen Gerät, welches mehrere Netzwerke verbinden oder trennen kann

Where the eye mixes rotten and Router

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
rotten
6 ch
Router

Visual trap between rotten and Router

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rotten is [ˈʁɔtn̩] while Router is [ˈʁuːtɐ]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44139, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rotten is recorded at frequency rank #34,340, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʁɔtn̩]. Router is at rank #9,799, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁuːtɐ].

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 44139, this pair ranks #1,395,768 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rotten vs Router

Shared letters: eort. Private to "rotten": n. Private to "Router": u.

"rotten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Router" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rottenrotetn · rottenn · rottne · rrotten · rtoten
  • Routeroruter · rotuer · rouetr · routerr · routre · routter · rrouter · ruoter

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "rotten" for "Router" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rotten" is a verb and "Router" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "rotten" vs "Router" - which ranks higher?
"Router" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,799 in our German list, against #34,340 for "rotten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rotten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Router" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,395,768 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rotten" and "Router" 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 #1,395,768 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