readvsregWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#9,794
“read” frequency rank
#8,613
“reg” frequency rank
18407
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature read reg
Definition lesen 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs regen

Where the eye mixes read and reg

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
read
3 ch
reg

Look-alike desk: read vs reg

A purely visual mix-up. read ([ɹiːd]) and reg ([ʁeːk]) 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 18407, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

read is recorded at frequency rank #9,794, classified as averb, pronounced [ɹiːd]. reg is at rank #8,613, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʁeːk].

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 18407, this pair ranks #1,918,516 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of read vs reg

Shared letters: er. Private to "read": ad. Private to "reg": g.

"read" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "reg" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • readerad · raed · readd · reda · rread

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "read" and "reg" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ɹiːd] versus [ʁeːk]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "read" vs "reg" - which ranks higher?
"reg" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,613 in our German list, against #9,794 for "read". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "read" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reg" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,918,516 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "read" and "reg" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "read vs RSA". 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 #1,918,516 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