rechenvsreckenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“rechen” and “recken” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#38,966
“rechen” frequency rank
#41,416
“recken” frequency rank
80382
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rechen recken
Definition etwas, häufig auf dem Boden Liegendes mit einem Rechen, einer Harke zusammentragen in Längsrichtung dehnen/strecken

Where the eye mixes rechen and recken

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. rechen and recken follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
rechen
6 ch
recken

Look-alike desk: rechen vs recken

A purely visual mix-up. rechen ([ˈʁɛçn̩]) and recken ([ˈʁɛkn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - h in “rechen” becomes k in “recken”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80382, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rechen is recorded at frequency rank #38,966, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʁɛçn̩]. 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 80382, this pair ranks #196,753 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of rechen vs recken

Shared letters: cenr. Private to "rechen": h. Private to "recken": k.

"rechen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "recken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rechen ← erchen · rcehen · recchen · recehn · rechhen · rehcen · rrechen
  • recken ← ercken · rceken · reccken · recekn · reckenn · reckken · reckne · rekcen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "rechen" and "recken" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʁɛçn̩] versus [ˈʁɛkn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "rechen" vs "recken" - which ranks higher?
"rechen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,966 in our German list, against #41,416 for "recken". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "rechen" 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 #196,753 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rechen" and "recken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recken vs Rückens". 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 #196,753 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