rulevsullaConfusable pair

Quick tell: rule is a noun, ulla is an unknown, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“rule” is a noun and “ulla” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#31,762
“rule” frequency rank
#24,155
“ulla” frequency rank
55917
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rule ulla
Definition Regel, Vorschrift Nominativ Singular Femininum des Indefinitpronomens ullus

Letter map: rule vs ulla

Shared letters muted; letters that set rule and ulla apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. rule (CVCV) and ulla (VCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
rule
4 ch
ulla

Part-of-speech tell for rule / ulla

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: rule is anoun and ullaanunknown. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55917, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rule is recorded at frequency rank #31,762, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. ulla is at rank #24,155, tagged as anunknown, pronounced […].

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 55917, this pair ranks #960,629 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rule vs ulla

Shared letters: lu. Private to "rule": er. Private to "ulla": a.

"rule" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "ulla" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rulerlue · rrule · ruel · rulle · urle
  • ullalula · ula · ulal

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "rule" for "ulla" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rule" is a noun and "ulla" an unknown, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "rule" or "ulla" show up more?
"ulla" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,155 in our German list, against #31,762 for "rule". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "rule" and "ulla".

  • Full dictionary entry for "rule" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ulla" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #960,629 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rule" and "ulla" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs rule". 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 #960,629 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