Which to use
“ruhige” is an adjective and “Ruine” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,082
- “ruhige” frequency rank
- #16,535
- “Ruine” frequency rank
- 25617
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ruhige | Ruine |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs ruhig | teilweise eingestürztes, verfallenes oder zerstörtes Bauwerk |
Where the eye mixes ruhige and Ruine
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses ruhige with Ruine
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ruhige is [ˈʁuːɪɡə] while Ruine is [ʁuˈiːnə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25617, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ruhige is recorded at frequency rank #9,082, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʁuːɪɡə]. Ruine is at rank #16,535, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʁuˈiːnə].
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 25617, this pair ranks #1,830,574 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ruhige vs Ruine
Shared letters: eiru. Private to "ruhige": gh. Private to "Ruine": n.
"ruhige" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "Ruine" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ruhige" and "Ruine" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "ruhige" or "Ruine" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "ruhige" and "Ruine" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ruhige" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Ruine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,830,574 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ruhige" and "Ruine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reibe vs Ruine". 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 #1,830,574 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.