RusvsRusseTell them apart

Which to use

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

#30,267
“Rus” frequency rank
#14,164
“Russe” frequency rank
44431
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Rus Russe
Definition Gebiet der ostslawischen Staats- und Gemeinwesen vom 9. bis zum 17. Jahrhundert Staatsbürger Russlands

Where the eye mixes Rus and Russe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
Rus
5 ch
Russe

Why the eye confuses Rus with Russe

A purely visual mix-up. Rus ([ʁʊs]) and Russe ([ˈʁʊsə]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “Rus” sits inside “Russe”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44431, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Rus is recorded at frequency rank #30,267, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʁʊs]. Russe is at rank #14,164, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁʊsə].

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 44431, this pair ranks #1,386,422 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Rus vs Russe

Shared letters: rsu. Private to "Rus": -. Private to "Russe": e.

"Rus" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Russe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Russerrusse · rsuse · ruse · ruses · ruße · ursse

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Rus" and "Russe" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ʁʊs] versus [ˈʁʊsə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Rus" or "Russe"?
"Russe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,164 in our German list, against #30,267 for "Rus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Rus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Russe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,386,422 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Rus" and "Russe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "RUB vs Rus". 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 #1,386,422 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