raschvsrascheWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,916
“rasch” frequency rank
#14,155
“rasche” frequency rank
18071
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rasch rasche
Definition in einem zügigen Tempo, oftmals auch mit einem schnellen Beginn und ohne viel Aufwand zu treiben oder groß nachzudenken, eventuell auch unerwartet und plötzlich Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs rasch

Where the eye mixes rasch and rasche

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
rasch
6 ch
rasche

Why the eye confuses rasch with rasche

A purely visual mix-up. rasch ([ʁaʃ]) and rasche ([ˈʁaʃə]) 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 extra letter(s) - “rasch” sits inside “rasche”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18071, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rasch is recorded at frequency rank #3,916, classified as anadj, pronounced [ʁaʃ]. rasche is at rank #14,155, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʁaʃə].

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 18071, this pair ranks #1,921,682 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of rasch vs rasche

Shared letters: achrs. Private to "rasch": -. Private to "rasche": e.

"rasch" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "rasche" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • raschracsh · rascch · raschh · rashc · rassch · rrasch · rsach
  • raschearsche · racshe · rascche · rasceh · raschhe · rashce · rassche · rrasche

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "rasch" for "rasche" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ʁaʃ] versus [ˈʁaʃə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "rasch" or "rasche" show up more?
"rasch" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,916 in our German list, against #14,155 for "rasche". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "rasch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rasche" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,921,682 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rasch" and "rasche" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rasche 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 #1,921,682 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