Which to use
“Ruhe” is a noun and “ruhen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,120
- “Ruhe” frequency rank
- #8,268
- “ruhen” frequency rank
- 9388
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Ruhe | ruhen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Abwesenheit von Ablenkung, Störung, Geräusch und Bewegung; (fast völlige) Stille und Bewegungslosigkeit | sich erholen, eine Pause machen |
Where the eye mixes Ruhe and ruhen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Ruhe runs 4 letters (CVCV) against ruhen's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: Ruhe vs ruhen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Ruhe is [ˈʁuːə] while ruhen is [ˈʁuːən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Ruhe” sits inside “ruhen”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9388, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Ruhe is recorded at frequency rank #1,120, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁuːə]. ruhen is at rank #8,268, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁuːən].
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 9388, this pair ranks #1,980,177 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Ruhe vs ruhen
Shared letters: ehru. Private to "Ruhe": -. Private to "ruhen": n.
"Ruhe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "ruhen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Ruhe" for "ruhen" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "Ruhe" or "ruhen" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Ruhe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ruhen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,980,177 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Ruhe" and "ruhen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ruhen vs rühmen". 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 #1,980,177 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.