Which to use
“rue” and “ruth” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,801
- “rue” frequency rank
- #6,615
- “ruth” frequency rank
- 20416
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | rue | ruth |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sorrow; repentance; regret. | Sorrow for the misery of another; pity, compassion; mercy. |
Where the eye mixes rue and ruth
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between rue and ruth
A purely visual mix-up. rue (/ɹuː/) and ruth (/ɹuːθ/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20416, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
rue is recorded at frequency rank #13,801, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹuː/. 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 20416, this pair ranks #431,227 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of rue vs ruth
Shared letters: ru. Private to "rue": e. Private to "ruth": ht.
"rue" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "ruth" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- ruth ← rruth · rtuh · ruht · ruthh · rutth · urth
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "rue" for "ruth" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "rue" or "ruth" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "rue" 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 #431,227 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "rue" and "ruth" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Rua vs rue". 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 #431,227 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.