rafftvsreiftWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#45,532
“rafft” frequency rank
#39,589
“reift” frequency rank
85121
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rafft reift
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs raffen 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs reifen

Where the eye mixes rafft and reift

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. rafft (CVCCC) and reift (CVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
rafft
5 ch
reift

Why the eye confuses rafft with reift

A purely visual mix-up. rafft ([ʁaft]) and reift ([ʁaɪ̯ft]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 85121, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rafft is recorded at frequency rank #45,532, classified as averb, pronounced [ʁaft]. reift is at rank #39,589, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʁaɪ̯ft].

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 85121, this pair ranks #113,074 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of rafft vs reift

Shared letters: frt. Private to "rafft": a. Private to "reift": ei.

"rafft" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "reift" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rafft ← arfft · rafftt · raft · raftf · rfaft · rrafft
  • reift ← erift · refit · reifft · reiftt · reitf · rieft · rreift

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "rafft" for "reift" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ʁaft] versus [ʁaɪ̯ft]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "rafft" or "reift" show up more?
"reift" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,589 in our German list, against #45,532 for "rafft". 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 "rafft" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reift" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #113,074 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rafft" and "reift" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rafft vs rappt". 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 #113,074 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