rauchtvsreichtWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#14,393
“raucht” frequency rank
#909
“reicht” frequency rank
15302
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature raucht reicht
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs rauchen 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens des Verbs reichen

Where the eye mixes raucht and reicht

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
raucht
6 ch
reicht

Why the eye confuses raucht with reicht

A purely visual mix-up. raucht ([ʁaʊ̯xt]) and reicht ([ʁaɪ̯çt]) 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 15302, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

raucht is recorded at frequency rank #14,393, classified as averb, pronounced [ʁaʊ̯xt]. reicht is at rank #909, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʁaɪ̯çt].

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 15302, this pair ranks #1,944,933 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of raucht vs reicht

Shared letters: chrt. Private to "raucht": au. Private to "reicht": ei.

"raucht" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC  ·  "reicht" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rauchtarucht · racuht · rauccht · rauchht · rauchtt · raucth · rauhct · rraucht
  • reichtericht · reciht · reiccht · reichht · reichtt · reicth · reihct · rreicht

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "raucht" and "reicht" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ʁaʊ̯xt] versus [ʁaɪ̯çt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "raucht" vs "reicht" - which ranks higher?
"reicht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #909 in our German list, against #14,393 for "raucht". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "raucht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reicht" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,944,933 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "raucht" and "reicht" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rauchst vs raucht". 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 #1,944,933 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