RuhvsRuneWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“Ruh” and “Rune” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#18,679
“Ruh” frequency rank
#40,805
“Rune” frequency rank
59484
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ruh Rune
Definition ein Zustand der Ungestörtheit älteste Schriftzeichen der Germanen

Where the eye mixes Ruh and Rune

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
Ruh
4 ch
Rune

Look-alike desk: Ruh vs Rune

A purely visual mix-up. Ruh ([ʁuː]) and Rune ([ˈʁuːnə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59484, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ruh is recorded at frequency rank #18,679, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʁuː]. Rune is at rank #40,805, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁuːnə].

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 59484, this pair ranks #822,848 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Ruh vs Rune

Shared letters: ru. Private to "Ruh": h. Private to "Rune": en.

"Ruh" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Rune" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Runernue · rrune · ruen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Ruh" for "Rune" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ʁuː] versus [ˈʁuːnə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Ruh" vs "Rune" - which ranks higher?
"Ruh" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,679 in our German list, against #40,805 for "Rune". 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 "Ruh" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Rune" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #822,848 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ruh" and "Rune" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "RUB vs Rune". 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 #822,848 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