rechenvsRegenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#38,966
“rechen” frequency rank
#1,987
“Regen” frequency rank
40953
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rechen Regen
Definition etwas, häufig auf dem Boden Liegendes mit einem Rechen, einer Harke zusammentragen kondensierter Wasserdampf, der als Wassertropfen zu Boden fällt; Süßwasser

Where the eye mixes rechen and Regen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. rechen runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against Regen's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
rechen
5 ch
Regen

Look-alike desk: rechen vs Regen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rechen is [ˈʁɛçn̩] while Regen is [ˈʁeːɡn̩]. 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 40953, 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]. Regen is at rank #1,987, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁeːɡn̩].

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 40953, this pair ranks #1,493,566 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rechen vs Regen

Shared letters: enr. Private to "rechen": ch. Private to "Regen": g.

"rechen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Regen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rechen ← erchen · rcehen · recchen · recehn · rechhen · rehcen · rrechen
  • Regen ← ergen · reegn · regenn · reggen · regne · rgeen · rregen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "rechen" for "Regen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rechen" is a verb and "Regen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "rechen" or "Regen" show up more?
"Regen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,987 in our German list, against #38,966 for "rechen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rechen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Regen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,493,566 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rechen" and "Regen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recent vs rechen". 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 #1,493,566 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