Which to use
“ruff” and “rune” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,272
- “ruff” frequency rank
- #28,704
- “rune” frequency rank
- 55976
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ruff | rune |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A circular frill or ruffle on a garment, especially a starched, fluted frill at the neck in Elizabethan and Jacobean England (1560s–1620s). | A letter, or character, used in the written language of various ancient Germanic peoples, especially the Scandinavians and the Anglo-Saxons. |
Where the eye mixes ruff and rune
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses ruff with rune
A purely visual mix-up. ruff (/ɹʌf/) and rune (/ɹuːn/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55976, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ruff is recorded at frequency rank #27,272, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹʌf/. rune is at rank #28,704, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹuːn/.
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 55976, this pair ranks #129,581 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ruff vs rune
Shared letters: ru. Private to "ruff": f. Private to "rune": en.
"ruff" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "rune" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ruff" for "rune" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "ruff" or "rune" 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 "ruff" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "rune" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #129,581 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ruff" and "rune" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Rua vs rune". 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 #129,581 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.