realevsReflexWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: reale is a adjective, Reflex is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“reale” is an adjective and “Reflex” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,521
“reale” frequency rank
#19,687
“Reflex” frequency rank
27208
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reale Reflex
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs real nicht kontrollierbare Bewegung

Where the eye mixes reale and Reflex

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

5 ch
reale
6 ch
Reflex

Visual trap between reale and Reflex

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: reale is [ʁeˈaːlə] while Reflex is [ʁeˈflɛks]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27208, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reale is recorded at frequency rank #7,521, classified as anadj, pronounced [ʁeˈaːlə]. Reflex is at rank #19,687, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʁeˈflɛks].

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 27208, this pair ranks #1,805,528 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of reale vs Reflex

Shared letters: elr. Private to "reale": a. Private to "Reflex": fx.

"reale" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "Reflex" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • realeerale · raele · reael · realle · relae · rreale
  • Reflexerflex · refelx · refflex · reflexx · refllex · reflxe · relfex · rfelex

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "reale" and "Reflex" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "reale" is an adjective and "Reflex" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "reale" or "Reflex"?
"reale" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,521 in our German list, against #19,687 for "Reflex". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "reale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Reflex" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,805,528 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reale" and "Reflex" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Reflex vs relax". 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 #1,805,528 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