rackvsReckWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“rack” and “Reck” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#46,930
“rack” frequency rank
#27,465
“Reck” frequency rank
74395
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rack Reck
Definition Gestell, Gerüst, Gewehrständer, Kleiderständer, Ständer, Rahmen, Streckrahmen, Stützrahmen, Raufe, Futtergestell, Gepäcknetz, Handtuchhalter, Halter Turngerät für Männer, das aus zwei senkrechten Stangen und einer Querstange besteht

Where the eye mixes rack and Reck

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. rack and Reck follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
rack
4 ch
Reck

Why the eye confuses rack with Reck

A purely visual mix-up. rack ([ɹæk]) and Reck ([ʁɛk]) 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 a single letter - a in “rack” becomes e in “Reck”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74395, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rack is recorded at frequency rank #46,930, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɹæk]. Reck is at rank #27,465, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʁɛk].

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 74395, this pair ranks #334,639 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of rack vs Reck

Shared letters: ckr. Private to "rack": a. Private to "Reck": e.

"rack" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Reck" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rack ← arck · racck · rackk · rakc · rcak · rrack
  • Reck ← erck · rcek · recck · reckk · rekc · rreck

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rack" and "Reck" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ɹæk] versus [ʁɛk]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "rack" or "Reck"?
"Reck" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,465 in our German list, against #46,930 for "rack". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rack" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Reck" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #334,639 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rack" and "Reck" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rack vs rech". 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 #334,639 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