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PlainSpell

rue

/ɹu/verb, noun

rue is spelled R-U-E: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 3.6 times per million words in written English, the 13,695th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “roux vs rue” about 20 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, rue means “To repent of or regret (some past action or event); to wish that a past action or event had not taken place” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in rue?

Letters3: R-U-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing3.6 times per million words; the 13,695th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Sounds like
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is rue?

Rue appears 3.6 times per million words in written English, the 13,695th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce rue?

  • UK /ɹuː/
  • British /ɹʉw/
  • US /ɹu/

Rue has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-rue.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with rue

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

roux vs rue20 G

Sounds like: roo, roux (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with rue?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as rue from its last stressed vowel (/u/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: ure.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of rue

  • rues present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • ruing participle, present
  • rueing participle, present
  • rued participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does rue mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To repent of or regret (some past action or event); to wish that a past action or event had not taken place.

    to rue the day

  2. 2

    obsoleteTo cause to repent of sin or regret some past action.

  3. 3

    obsoleteTo cause to feel sorrow or pity.

  4. 4

    archaicobsoleteTo feel compassion or pity; to take pity (on), to have compassion (on).

  5. 5

    archaicTo feel sorrow or regret.

noun

  1. 1

    Any of various perennial shrubs of the genus Ruta, especially the herb Ruta graveolens (common rue), formerly used in medicines.

  2. 2

    archaicSorrow; repentance; regret.

  3. 3

    archaicPity; compassion.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Rue in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Portuguesearrependimento (repentance, regret), compaixão (pity, compassion), arrepender (to repent or regret a past action or event), arruda (any of various perennial shrubs of the genus…)
Frenchregretter (to repent or regret a past action or event), rue (any of various perennial shrubs of the genus…)
Germanbereuen (to repent or regret a past action or event), Raute (any of various perennial shrubs of the genus…)
Spanishruda (any of various perennial shrubs of the genus…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does rue come from?

From Middle English rewen, ruwen, ruen, reowen, from Old English hrēowan (“to rue; make sorry; grieve”), perhaps influenced by Old Norse hryggja (“to distress, grieve”), from Proto-Germanic *hrewwaną (“to sadden; repent”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after rue