RuhevsRusseWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,120
“Ruhe” frequency rank
#14,164
“Russe” frequency rank
15284
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ruhe Russe
Definition Abwesenheit von Ablenkung, Störung, Geräusch und Bewegung; (fast völlige) Stille und Bewegungslosigkeit Staatsbürger Russlands

Where the eye mixes Ruhe and Russe

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

4 ch
Ruhe
5 ch
Russe

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. Ruhe ([ˈʁuːə]) and Russe ([ˈʁʊsə]) 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 15284, 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]. Russe is at rank #14,164, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁʊsə].

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 15284, this pair ranks #1,945,065 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Ruhe vs Russe

Shared letters: eru. Private to "Ruhe": h. Private to "Russe": s.

"Ruhe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Russe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Ruherhue · rruhe · rueh · ruhhe · urhe
  • Russerrusse · rsuse · ruse · ruses · ruße · ursse

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Ruhe" and "Russe" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʁuːə] versus [ˈʁʊsə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Ruhe" or "Russe"?
"Ruhe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,120 in our German list, against #14,164 for "Russe". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "Ruhe" and "Russe". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Ruhe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Russe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,945,065 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ruhe" and "Russe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Russe vs russo". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list