Ruh vs Rus, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#18,679
“Ruh” frequency rank: #30,267
“Rus” frequency rank: 48946
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Ruh	Rus
Definition	ein Zustand der Ungestörtheit	Gebiet der ostslawischen Staats- und Gemeinwesen vom 9. bis zum 17. Jahrhundert

Where the eye mixes Ruh and Rus

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

3 ch

Ruh

3 ch

Rus

Look-alike desk: Ruh vs Rus

A purely visual mix-up. Ruh ([ʁuː]) and Rus ([ʁʊs]) 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 a single letter - h in “Ruh” becomes s in “Rus”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48946, 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]. Rus is at rank #30,267, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʁʊs].

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 48946, this pair ranks #1,229,705 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Ruh vs Rus

Shared letters: ru. Private to "Ruh": h. Private to "Rus": s.

"Ruh" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "Rus" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Ruh" and "Rus" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No. They are said differently ([ʁuː] versus [ʁʊs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "Ruh" or "Rus"?

"Ruh" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,679 in our German list, against #30,267 for "Rus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

Full dictionary entry for "Ruh" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "Rus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #1,229,705 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"Ruh" and "Rus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "RUB vs Rus". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,229,705 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.