English homophones
roo/roux/rue
"rue" (#13,801 written frequency) beats "roo" (#25,557) in this 3-word /ˈɹuː/ cluster. Size rank #30 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Frequency splits the cluster
These 3 spellings keep the same /ˈɹuː/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "rue" leads at #13,801, with "roo" trailing at #25,557.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "ro" then splits - "roo" (3 letters) vs "roux" (4).
- No shared spelling stem: "roo" is 3 letters, "rue" is 3; only the sound ties them.
- No shared spelling stem: "roux" is 4 letters, "rue" is 3; only the sound ties them.
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across roo, roux, rue: r. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
roo
3 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVV
Inventory or · private o
roux
4 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVVC
Inventory orux · private oux
rue
3 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVV
Inventory eru · private eu
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "roo" when you mean: Peace; quietness.
- Write "roux" when you mean: A mixture of fat (usually butter) and flour used to thicken sauces and stews.
- Write "rue" when you mean: Sorrow; repentance; regret.
Known mistypes of these spellings
Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.
- roux ← orux · rouxx · roxu · rroux · ruox
Each spelling
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 3-spelling cluster (roo, roux, rue). Here's where to go from here.
- "rue" is the most frequent headword in this 3-spelling cluster (rank #13,801 in English). Full entry
- Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 3 spellings ranks #30 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
- Explore a nearby 3-spelling cluster: Russell · Russel · rustle. Nearby cluster
- Each spelling in "roo, roux, rue" has its own headword page with definition, IPA, and misspelling variants. First entry
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.