rundesvsrundumTell them apart

Quick tell: rundes is a adjective, rundum is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“rundes” is an adjective and “rundum” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,891
“rundes” frequency rank
#13,470
“rundum” frequency rank
48361
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rundes rundum
Definition Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs rund im gesamten Umkreis, in jeder Richtung

Where the eye mixes rundes and rundum

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

6 ch
rundes
6 ch
rundum

Look-alike desk: rundes vs rundum

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rundes is [ˈʁʊndəs] while rundum is [ʁʊntˈʔʊm]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48361, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rundes is recorded at frequency rank #34,891, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʁʊndəs]. rundum is at rank #13,470, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ʁʊntˈʔʊm].

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 48361, this pair ranks #1,251,374 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rundes vs rundum

Shared letters: dnru. Private to "rundes": es. Private to "rundum": m.

"rundes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "rundum" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rundesrnudes · rrundes · rudnes · runddes · rundess · rundse · runeds · runndes
  • rundumrnudum · rrundum · rudnum · runddum · rundmu · rundumm · runndum · runudm

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "rundes" for "rundum" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rundes" is an adjective and "rundum" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "rundes" vs "rundum" - which ranks higher?
"rundum" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,470 in our German list, against #34,891 for "rundes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "rundes" and "rundum" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rundes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rundum" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,251,374 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rundes" and "rundum" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Rades vs rundes". 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 #1,251,374 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