RothvsruthWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Roth is a name, ruth is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Roth” is a name and “ruth” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13,232
“Roth” frequency rank
#6,615
“ruth” frequency rank
19847
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Roth ruth
Definition A surname. Sorrow for the misery of another; pity, compassion; mercy.

Letter map: Roth vs ruth

Shared letters muted; letters that set Roth and ruth apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

4 ch
Roth
4 ch
ruth

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Roth is aname and ruthanoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - o in “Roth” becomes u in “ruth”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19847, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Roth is recorded at frequency rank #13,232, classified as aname. ruth is at rank #6,615, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹuːθ/.

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 19847, this pair ranks #435,308 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Roth vs ruth

Shared letters: hrt. Private to "Roth": o. Private to "ruth": u.

"Roth" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "ruth" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Rothorth · roht · rothh · rotth · rroth · rtoh
  • ruthrruth · rtuh · ruht · ruthh · rutth · urth

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Roth" and "ruth" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Roth" is a name and "ruth" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Roth" or "ruth"?
"ruth" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,615 in our English list, against #13,232 for "Roth". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "Roth" and "ruth". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Roth" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ruth" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #435,308 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Roth" and "ruth" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rood vs Roth". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list