Which to use
“ruhigen” is an adjective and “rühren” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,800
- “ruhigen” frequency rank
- #10,554
- “rühren” frequency rank
- 20354
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ruhigen | rühren |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs ruhig | sich bewegen |
Where the eye mixes ruhigen and rühren
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. ruhigen runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against rühren's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between ruhigen and rühren
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ruhigen is [ˈʁuːɪɡn̩] while rühren is [ˈʁyːʁən]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20354, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ruhigen is recorded at frequency rank #9,800, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʁuːɪɡn̩]. rühren is at rank #10,554, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁyːʁən].
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 20354, this pair ranks #1,898,596 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ruhigen vs rühren
Shared letters: ehnr. Private to "ruhigen": giu. Private to "rühren": ü.
"ruhigen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "rühren" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- ruhigen ← rhuigen · rruhigen · ruhgien · ruhhigen · ruhiegn · ruhigenn · ruhiggen · ruhigne
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ruhigen" for "rühren" ever safe?
Frequency check: "ruhigen" vs "rühren" - which ranks higher?
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 "ruhigen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "rühren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,898,596 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ruhigen" and "rühren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rühmen vs rühren". 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 #1,898,596 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.