runway
[ˈɹʌnweɪ]
The verdict
“runway” is uncommon German (frequency #90,830 among 42,116 “R” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #90,830
- frequency rank, German
- 42,116
- “R” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Startbahn, Landebahn
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | runway |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [ˈɹʌnweɪ] |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #90,830 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “runway” sits in German frequency
Rare enough to double-check
runway is uncommon German at frequency #90,830 among 42,116 “R” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [ˈɹʌnweɪ]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for runway in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable German patterns. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct German form is runway, spelled R-U-N-W-A-Y.
Definition
- 1Startbahn, Landebahn
- 2Laufsteg
Synonyms
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “runway”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is R-U-N-W-A-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈɹʌnweɪ] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Other uncommon German words near this rank
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.