Which to use
“ru” and “ruth” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,467
- “ru” frequency rank
- #12,858
- “ruth” frequency rank
- 29325
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ru | ruth |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Petit ruisseau. | Pitié. |
Where the eye mixes ru and ruth
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: ru vs ruth
A purely visual mix-up. ru (\ʁy\) and ruth (\ɹuːθ\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “ru” sits inside “ruth”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29325, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ru is recorded at frequency rank #16,467, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁy\. ruth is at rank #12,858, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɹuːθ\.
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 29325, this pair ranks #317,377 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ru vs ruth
Shared letters: ru. Private to "ru": -. Private to "ruth": ht.
"ru" · 2 letters · shape CV · "ruth" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- ruth ← rruth · rtuh · ruht · ruthh · rutth · urth
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ru" for "ruth" ever safe?
Which is more common, "ru" or "ruth"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "ru" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ruth" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #317,377 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ru" and "ruth" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rog vs ru". 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 #317,377 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.