rechvsReichWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#46,224
“rech” frequency rank
#1,019
“Reich” frequency rank
47243
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rech Reich
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs rechen Land, Gruppe von Ländern, Ländereien, die von einem Monarchen (König, Kaiser, Zar) oder anderem Herrscher regiert werden

Where the eye mixes rech and Reich

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

4 ch
rech
5 ch
Reich

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rech is [ʁɛç] while Reich is [ʁaɪ̯ç]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47243, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rech is recorded at frequency rank #46,224, classified as averb, pronounced [ʁɛç]. Reich is at rank #1,019, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʁaɪ̯ç].

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 47243, this pair ranks #1,291,226 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rech vs Reich

Shared letters: cehr. Private to "rech": -. Private to "Reich": i.

"rech" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Reich" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • recherch · rceh · recch · rechh · rehc · rrech
  • Reichrecih · reicch · reichh · reihc · riech · rreich

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rech" and "Reich" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rech" is a verb and "Reich" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "rech" or "Reich"?
"Reich" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,019 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

You've compared "rech" and "Reich". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rech" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Reich" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,291,226 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rech" and "Reich" 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list