rackvsReckeTell them apart

Which to use

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

#46,930
“rack” frequency rank
#41,415
“Recke” frequency rank
88345
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rack Recke
Definition Gestell, Gerüst, Gewehrständer, Kleiderständer, Ständer, Rahmen, Streckrahmen, Stützrahmen, Raufe, Futtergestell, Gepäcknetz, Handtuchhalter, Halter ungeschlachter, riesenhafter Krieger, Held aus Sagen

Where the eye mixes rack and Recke

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. rack runs 4 letters (CVCC) against Recke's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
rack
5 ch
Recke

Why the eye confuses rack with Recke

A purely visual mix-up. rack ([ɹæk]) and Recke ([ˈʁɛkə]) 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 88345, 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]. Recke is at rank #41,415, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁɛkə].

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 88345, this pair ranks #69,398 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of rack vs Recke

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

"rack" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Recke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rack ← arck · racck · rackk · rakc · rcak · rrack
  • Recke ← ercke · rceke · reccke · recek · reckke · rekce · rrecke

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rack" and "Recke" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ɹæk] versus [ˈʁɛkə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "rack" or "Recke"?
"Recke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,415 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.

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 "rack" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Recke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #69,398 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rack" and "Recke" 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 #69,398 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