RebenvsrennWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Reben is a noun, renn is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Reben” is a noun and “renn” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,820
“Reben” frequency rank
#20,035
“renn” frequency rank
48855
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Reben renn
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Rebe 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs rennen

Where the eye mixes Reben and renn

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Reben
4 ch
renn

Visual trap between Reben and renn

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Reben is [ˈʁeːbn̩] while renn is [ʁɛn]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48855, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Reben is recorded at frequency rank #28,820, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁeːbn̩]. renn is at rank #20,035, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʁɛn].

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 48855, this pair ranks #1,233,098 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Reben vs renn

Shared letters: enr. Private to "Reben": b. Private to "renn": -.

"Reben" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "renn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Rebenrbeen · rebben · rebenn · rebne · reebn · rreben
  • rennernn · rnen · rrenn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Reben" for "renn" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Reben" is a noun and "renn" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Reben" or "renn"?
"renn" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,035 in our German list, against #28,820 for "Reben". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Reben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "renn" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,233,098 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Reben" and "renn" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ramen vs Reben". 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 #1,233,098 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