RuhevsRunenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,120
“Ruhe” frequency rank
#32,242
“Runen” frequency rank
33362
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ruhe Runen
Definition Abwesenheit von Ablenkung, Störung, Geräusch und Bewegung; (fast völlige) Stille und Bewegungslosigkeit Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Rune

Where the eye mixes Ruhe and Runen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Ruhe
5 ch
Runen

Visual trap between Ruhe and Runen

A purely visual mix-up. Ruhe ([ˈʁuːə]) and Runen ([ˈʁuːnən]) 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 33362, 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]. Runen is at rank #32,242, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁuːnən].

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 33362, this pair ranks #1,687,594 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Ruhe vs Runen

Shared letters: eru. Private to "Ruhe": h. Private to "Runen": n.

"Ruhe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Runen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Ruherhue · rruhe · rueh · ruhhe · urhe
  • Runenrnuen · rrunen · ruenn · runenn · runne · runnen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Ruhe" for "Runen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʁuːə] versus [ˈʁuːnən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Ruhe" or "Runen" show up more?
"Ruhe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,120 in our German list, against #32,242 for "Runen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Ruhe" and "Runen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Ruhe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Runen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,687,594 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ruhe" and "Runen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rühmen vs Runen". 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 #1,687,594 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