RuinevsrunnerTell them apart

Which to use

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

#16,535
“Ruine” frequency rank
#25,292
“runner” frequency rank
41827
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ruine runner
Definition teilweise eingestürztes, verfallenes oder zerstörtes Bauwerk Läufer

Where the eye mixes Ruine and runner

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

5 ch
Ruine
6 ch
runner

Why the eye confuses Ruine with runner

A purely visual mix-up. Ruine ([ʁuˈiːnə]) and runner ([ˈrʌnəʳ]) 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 41827, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ruine is recorded at frequency rank #16,535, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʁuˈiːnə]. runner is at rank #25,292, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈrʌnəʳ].

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 41827, this pair ranks #1,467,869 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Ruine vs runner

Shared letters: enru. Private to "Ruine": i. Private to "runner": -.

"Ruine" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "runner" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Ruineriune · rruine · ruien · runie · urine
  • runnerrnuner · rrunner · runenr · runer · runnerr · runnre · urnner

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Ruine" and "runner" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ʁuˈiːnə] versus [ˈrʌnəʳ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Ruine" vs "runner" - which ranks higher?
"Ruine" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,535 in our German list, against #25,292 for "runner". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Ruine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "runner" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,467,869 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ruine" and "runner" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rinnen vs runner". 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 #1,467,869 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