# route

> English word · Noun · IPA /ɹuːt/ · frequency rank #2,176

## Definitions
1. A course or way which is traveled or passed.
2. A regular itinerary of stops, or the path followed between these stops, such as for delivery or passenger transportation.
3. A road or path; often specifically a highway.
4. One of multiple methods or approaches to doing something.
5. One of the major provinces of imperial China from the Later Jin to the Song, corresponding to the Tang and early Yuan circuits.
6. A specific entry in a router that tells the router how to transmit the data it receives.
7. A race longer than one mile.
8. A path that has been secured by a railway signalling system for the passage of a train and locked to prevent any conflicting train movements from taking place.

## Etymology
From Middle English route, from Old French route, from Latin rupta [via] (literally “a path made by force”). Compare Modern French route. See routine. Further via Latin ruptus related with bankrupt.

## Easily confused with
- **rue** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/route-vs-rue)
- **rut** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/route-vs-rut)
- **rule** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/route-vs-rule)
- **rude** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/route-vs-rude)
- **ruth** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/route-vs-ruth)
- **Rowe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/route-vs-rowe)
- **ruse** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/route-vs-ruse)
- **roux** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/route-vs-roux)
- **rune** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/route-vs-rune)
- **rove** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/route-vs-rove)
- **rube** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/route-vs-rube)
- **Royce** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/route-vs-royce)
- **routes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/route-vs-routes)
- **router** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/route-vs-router)
- **routed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/route-vs-routed)
- **routine** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/route-vs-routine)
- **rot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rot-vs-route)
- **roe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/roe-vs-route)
- **rate** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rate-vs-route)
- **rose** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rose-vs-route)

## Common misspellings (6)
`orute`, `rotue`, `rouet`, `routte`, `rroute`, `ruote`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/route