ruhtevsrunterConfusable pair

Quick tell: ruhte is a verb, runter is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ruhte” is a verb and “runter” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,599
“ruhte” frequency rank
#1,937
“runter” frequency rank
38536
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ruhte runter
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs ruhen herunter; nach unten

Where the eye mixes ruhte and runter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
ruhte
6 ch
runter

Look-alike desk: ruhte vs runter

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ruhte is [ˈʁuːtə] while runter is [ˈʁʊntɐ]. 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 (verb vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38536, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ruhte is recorded at frequency rank #36,599, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʁuːtə]. runter is at rank #1,937, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ˈʁʊntɐ].

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 38536, this pair ranks #1,561,365 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ruhte vs runter

Shared letters: ertu. Private to "ruhte": h. Private to "runter": n.

"ruhte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "runter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ruhterhute · rruhte · ruhet · ruhhte · ruhtte · ruthe · urhte
  • runterrnuter · rrunter · runetr · runnter · runterr · runtre · runtter · rutner

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ruhte" and "runter" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ruhte" is a verb and "runter" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "ruhte" vs "runter" - which ranks higher?
"runter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,937 in our German list, against #36,599 for "ruhte". 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 "ruhte" and "runter" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ruhte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "runter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,561,365 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ruhte" and "runter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rühmen vs ruhte". 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 #1,561,365 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