rächenvsraschenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: rächen is a verb, raschen is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“rächen” is a verb and “raschen” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,734
“rächen” frequency rank
#22,111
“raschen” frequency rank
37845
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rächen raschen
Definition jemandem für eine als Unrecht empfundene Tat eines anderen Genugtuung verschaffen, indem man diesem ebenfalls einen Nachteil zufügt Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs rasch

Where the eye mixes rächen and raschen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. rächen runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against raschen's 7 (CVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
rächen
7 ch
raschen

Look-alike desk: rächen vs raschen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rächen is [ˈʁɛçn̩] while raschen is [ˈʁaʃn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37845, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rächen is recorded at frequency rank #15,734, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʁɛçn̩]. raschen is at rank #22,111, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʁaʃn̩].

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 37845, this pair ranks #1,579,576 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of rächen vs raschen

Shared letters: cehnr. Private to "rächen": ä. Private to "raschen": as.

"rächen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "raschen" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • raschen ← arschen · racshen · rascchen · rascehn · raschenn · raschhen · raschne · rashcen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rächen" and "raschen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rächen" is a verb and "raschen" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "rächen" vs "raschen" - which ranks higher?
"rächen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,734 in our German list, against #22,111 for "raschen". 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 "rächen" and "raschen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rächen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "raschen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,579,576 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rächen" and "raschen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "raschen vs Rauscher". 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 #1,579,576 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list