rechnevsrechtsTell them apart

Quick tell: rechne is a verb, rechts is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“rechne” is a verb and “rechts” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,570
“rechne” frequency rank
#708
“rechts” frequency rank
13278
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rechne rechts
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs rechnen seitlich im Gegenteil zu links

Where the eye mixes rechne and rechts

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. rechne (CVCCCV) and rechts (CVCCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
rechne
6 ch
rechts

Look-alike desk: rechne vs rechts

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rechne is [ˈʁɛçnə] while rechts is [ʁɛçt͡s]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13278, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rechne is recorded at frequency rank #12,570, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʁɛçnə]. rechts is at rank #708, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ʁɛçt͡s].

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 13278, this pair ranks #1,958,980 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of rechne vs rechts

Shared letters: cehr. Private to "rechne": n. Private to "rechts": st.

"rechne" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "rechts" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rechne ← erchne · rcehne · recchne · rechhne · recnhe · rehcne · rrechne
  • rechts ← erchts · rcehts · recchts · rechhts · rechst · rechtss · rechtts · recths

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rechne" and "rechts" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rechne" is a verb and "rechts" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "rechne" or "rechts"?
"rechts" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #708 in our German list, against #12,570 for "rechne". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "rechne" and "rechts" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rechne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rechts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,958,980 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rechne" and "rechts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recent vs rechne". 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 #1,958,980 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