recentvsreckenTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#48,411
“recent” frequency rank
#41,416
“recken” frequency rank
89827
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recent recken
Definition kürzlich, jüngst in Längsrichtung dehnen/strecken

Letter map: recent vs recken

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

6 ch
recent
6 ch
recken

Role in the sentence - recent and recken

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: recent is anadjective and reckenaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 89827, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recent is recorded at frequency rank #48,411, classified as anadj, pronounced […]. recken is at rank #41,416, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁɛkn̩].

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 89827, this pair ranks #53,235 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of recent vs recken

Shared letters: cenr. Private to "recent": t. Private to "recken": k.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • recentercent · rceent · reccent · recennt · recentt · recetn · recnet · reecnt
  • reckenercken · rceken · reccken · recekn · reckenn · reckken · reckne · rekcen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "recent" for "recken" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "recent" is an adjective and "recken" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "recent" vs "recken" - which ranks higher?
"recken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,416 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.

What to do next

You've compared "recent" and "recken". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "recent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "recken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #53,235 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recent" and "recken" 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 #53,235 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