recentvsrechenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#48,411
“recent” frequency rank
#38,966
“rechen” frequency rank
87377
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recent rechen
Definition kürzlich, jüngst etwas, häufig auf dem Boden Liegendes mit einem Rechen, einer Harke zusammentragen

Letter map: recent vs rechen

Shared letters muted; letters that set recent and rechen apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.

6 ch
recent
6 ch
rechen

Grammar separator: recent vs rechen

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: recent is anadjective and rechenaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 87377, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recent is recorded at frequency rank #48,411, classified as anadj, pronounced […]. rechen is at rank #38,966, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁɛçn̩].

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 87377, this pair ranks #81,159 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of recent vs rechen

Shared letters: cenr. Private to "recent": t. Private to "rechen": h.

"recent" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "rechen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • recentercent · rceent · reccent · recennt · recentt · recetn · recnet · reecnt
  • rechenerchen · rcehen · recchen · recehn · rechhen · rehcen · rrechen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "recent" for "rechen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "recent" is an adjective and "rechen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "recent" vs "rechen" - which ranks higher?
"rechen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,966 in our German list, against #48,411 for "recent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "recent" vs "rechen" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "recent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rechen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #81,159 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recent" and "rechen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs recent". 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 #81,159 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