Which to use
“ruin” and “ruse” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,265
- “ruin” frequency rank
- #23,664
- “ruse” frequency rank
- 27929
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ruin | ruse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The remains of a destroyed or dilapidated construction, such as a house or castle. | A turning or doubling back, especially of animals to get out of the way of hunting dogs. |
Where the eye mixes ruin and ruse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: ruin vs ruse
A purely visual mix-up. ruin (/ˈɹuː.ɪn/) and ruse (/ɹuːz/) 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 27929, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ruin is recorded at frequency rank #4,265, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɹuː.ɪn/. ruse is at rank #23,664, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹuːz/.
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 27929, this pair ranks #375,000 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ruin vs ruse
Shared letters: ru. Private to "ruin": in. Private to "ruse": es.
"ruin" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "ruse" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ruin" and "ruse" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "ruin" or "ruse" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "ruin" and "ruse" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ruin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ruse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #375,000 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ruin" and "ruse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Rua vs ruse". 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 #375,000 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.