raschenvsreichenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#22,111
“raschen” frequency rank
#1,568
“reichen” frequency rank
23679
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature raschen reichen
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs rasch jemandem etwas geben

Where the eye mixes raschen and reichen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. raschen (CVCCCVC) and reichen (CVVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
raschen
7 ch
reichen

Look-alike desk: raschen vs reichen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: raschen is [ˈʁaʃn̩] while reichen is [ˈʁaɪ̯çn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23679, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

raschen is recorded at frequency rank #22,111, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʁaʃn̩]. reichen is at rank #1,568, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁaɪ̯çn̩].

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 23679, this pair ranks #1,858,069 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of raschen vs reichen

Shared letters: cehnr. Private to "raschen": as. Private to "reichen": i.

"raschen" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "reichen" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • raschen ← arschen · racshen · rascchen · rascehn · raschenn · raschhen · raschne · rashcen
  • reichen ← erichen · recihen · reicchen · reicehn · reichenn · reichhen · reichne · reihcen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "raschen" and "reichen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "raschen" is an adjective and "reichen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "raschen" vs "reichen" - which ranks higher?
"reichen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,568 in our German list, against #22,111 for "raschen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "raschen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reichen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,858,069 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "raschen" and "reichen" 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 #1,858,069 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