realvsrechConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#2,082
“real” frequency rank
#46,224
“rech” frequency rank
48306
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature real rech
Definition in materieller Form vorhanden 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs rechen

Where the eye mixes real and rech

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

4 ch
real
4 ch
rech

Visual trap between real and rech

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: real is [ʁeˈaːl] while rech is [ʁɛç]. 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 48306, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

real is recorded at frequency rank #2,082, classified as anadj, pronounced [ʁeˈaːl]. rech is at rank #46,224, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʁɛç].

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 48306, this pair ranks #1,253,399 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of real vs rech

Shared letters: er. Private to "real": al. Private to "rech": ch.

"real" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "rech" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • realeral · rael · reall · rela · rreal
  • recherch · rceh · recch · rechh · rehc · rrech

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "real" and "rech" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "real" is an adjective and "rech" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "real" or "rech"?
"real" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,082 in our German list, against #46,224 for "rech". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "real" and "rech" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "real" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rech" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,253,399 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "real" and "rech" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rack vs rech". 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 #1,253,399 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