reachvsRehWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#42,075
“reach” frequency rank
#18,374
“Reh” frequency rank
60449
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reach Reh
Definition Reichweite, Bandbreite, Bereich im Wald lebender Wiederkäuer aus der Familie der Hirsche oder Cervidae

Where the eye mixes reach and Reh

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. reach runs 5 letters (CVVCC) against Reh's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
reach
3 ch
Reh

Visual trap between reach and Reh

A purely visual mix-up. reach ([ɹiːt͡ʃ]) and Reh ([ʁeː]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60449, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reach is recorded at frequency rank #42,075, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɹiːt͡ʃ]. Reh is at rank #18,374, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʁeː].

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 60449, this pair ranks #786,556 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of reach vs Reh

Shared letters: ehr. Private to "reach": ac. Private to "Reh": -.

"reach" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "Reh" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reach ← erach · raech · reacch · reachh · reahc · recah · rreach

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "reach" for "Reh" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɹiːt͡ʃ] versus [ʁeː]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "reach" or "Reh" show up more?
"Reh" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,374 in our German list, against #42,075 for "reach". 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 "reach" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Reh" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #786,556 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reach" and "Reh" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rack vs reach". 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 #786,556 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