rue
/ɹuː/
"rue" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“rue” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #13,801 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #13,801
- frequency rank, English
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Sorrow; repentance; regret.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | rue |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɹuː/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #13,801 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “rue” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for rue is 3 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɹuː/. Corpus data places it at rank #13,801 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for rue, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "RV", "RW", "run", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English rewe, reowe, from Old English hrēow (“sorrow, regret, penitence, repentance, penance”), from Proto-West Germanic *hreuwu (“pain, sadness, regret, repentance”). Cognates include German reuen (“to regret, to repent”) and Dutch rouwen (“to … The correct English form is rue, spelled R-U-E.
Definition
- 1Sorrow; repentance; regret.
- 2Pity; compassion.
Etymology
From Middle English rewe, reowe, from Old English hrēow (“sorrow, regret, penitence, repentance, penance”), from Proto-West Germanic *hreuwu (“pain, sadness, regret, repentance”). Cognates include German reuen (“to regret, to repent”) and Dutch rouwen (“to mourn, to grieve”). Probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *krows-. If so, note the same sense evolution with in this case cognate Russian круши́ть (krušítʹ, “to destroy, to shatter”), Russian сокруша́ться (sokrušátʹsja, “to be distressed, to grieve (for, over)”). Also compare Czech truchlit from Proto-Slavic *truxlъ.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “rue”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is R-U-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɹuː/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “RV” - see the side-by-side comparison. rue vs RV
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.