RudervsrunterWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Ruder is a noun, runter is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Ruder” is a noun and “runter” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,353
“Ruder” frequency rank
#1,937
“runter” frequency rank
12290
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ruder runter
Definition unten blattförmig erweiterte Stange zum Fortbewegen eines Bootes herunter; nach unten

Where the eye mixes Ruder and runter

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

5 ch
Ruder
6 ch
runter

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Ruder is [ˈʁuːdɐ] while runter is [ˈʁʊntɐ]. 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 (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12290, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ruder is recorded at frequency rank #10,353, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁuːdɐ]. runter is at rank #1,937, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ˈʁʊntɐ].

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 12290, this pair ranks #1,965,068 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Ruder vs runter

Shared letters: eru. Private to "Ruder": d. Private to "runter": nt.

"Ruder" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "runter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Ruderrduer · rruder · rudder · ruderr · rudre · ruedr · urder
  • runterrnuter · rrunter · runetr · runnter · runterr · runtre · runtter · rutner

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Ruder" and "runter" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Ruder" is a noun and "runter" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Ruder" or "runter"?
"runter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,937 in our German list, against #10,353 for "Ruder". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "Ruder" and "runter". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Ruder" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "runter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,965,068 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ruder" and "runter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Rades vs Ruder". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list