rauchtvsrichtWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#14,393
“raucht” frequency rank
#37,164
“richt” frequency rank
51557
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature raucht richt
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs rauchen 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs richten

Where the eye mixes raucht and richt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. raucht runs 6 letters (CVVCCC) against richt's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
raucht
5 ch
richt

Visual trap between raucht and richt

A purely visual mix-up. raucht ([ʁaʊ̯xt]) and richt ([ʁɪçt]) 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 51557, 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]. richt is at rank #37,164, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʁɪçt].

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 51557, this pair ranks #1,130,894 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of raucht vs richt

Shared letters: chrt. Private to "raucht": au. Private to "richt": i.

"raucht" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC  ·  "richt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • raucht ← arucht · racuht · rauccht · rauchht · rauchtt · raucth · rauhct · rraucht
  • richt ← ircht · rciht · riccht · richht · richtt · ricth · rihct · rricht

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "raucht" for "richt" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ʁaʊ̯xt] versus [ʁɪçt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "raucht" or "richt" show up more?
"raucht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,393 in our German list, against #37,164 for "richt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "raucht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "richt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,130,894 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "raucht" and "richt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rech vs richt". 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 #1,130,894 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