rotevsrteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“rote” and “rte” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#40,976
“rote” frequency rank
#27,606
“rte” frequency rank
68582
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rote rte
Definition Tribunal religieux de la cour de Rome, composé de docteurs ecclésiastiques nommés. Route.

Where the eye mixes rote and rte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
rote
3 ch
rte

Why the eye confuses rote with rte

A purely visual mix-up. rote (\ʁɔt\) and rte (\ʁut\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68582, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rote is recorded at frequency rank #40,976, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁɔt\. rte is at rank #27,606, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁut\.

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 68582, this pair ranks #58,577 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of rote vs rte

Shared letters: ert. Private to "rote": o. Private to "rte": -.

"rote" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "rte" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • roteorte · roet · rotte · rrote · rtoe

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "rote" for "rte" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ʁɔt\ versus \ʁut\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "rote" vs "rte" - which ranks higher?
"rte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,606 in our French list, against #40,976 for "rote". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "rote" and "rte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rote" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #58,577 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rote" and "rte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rote vs roya". 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 #58,577 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list