Which to use
“rue” is a noun and “rufe” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,534
- “rue” frequency rank
- #6,967
- “rufe” frequency rank
- 23501
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | rue | rufe |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Reue | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs rufen |
Where the eye mixes rue and rufe
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: rue vs rufe
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rue is [ruː] while rufe is [ˈʁuːfə]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23501, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
rue is recorded at frequency rank #16,534, classified as anoun, pronounced [ruː]. rufe is at rank #6,967, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁuːfə].
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 23501, this pair ranks #1,860,483 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of rue vs rufe
Shared letters: eru. Private to "rue": -. Private to "rufe": f.
"rue" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "rufe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- rufe ← rfue · rrufe · ruef · ruffe · urfe
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "rue" for "rufe" ever safe?
Which is more common, "rue" or "rufe"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "rue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "rufe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,860,483 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "rue" and "rufe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "RUB vs rue". 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 #1,860,483 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.