RechtvsReichWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#227
“Recht” frequency rank
#1,019
“Reich” frequency rank
1246
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Recht Reich
Definition staatlich festgelegte und anerkannte Ordnung des menschlichen Zusammenlebens, deren Einhaltung durch staatlich organisierten Zwang garantiert wird Land, Gruppe von Ländern, Ländereien, die von einem Monarchen (König, Kaiser, Zar) oder anderem Herrscher regiert werden

Where the eye mixes Recht and Reich

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

5 ch
Recht
5 ch
Reich

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. Recht ([ʁɛçt]) and Reich ([ʁaɪ̯ç]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1246, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Recht is recorded at frequency rank #227, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʁɛçt]. 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 1246, this pair ranks #2,004,679 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Recht vs Reich

Shared letters: cehr. Private to "Recht": t. Private to "Reich": i.

"Recht" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "Reich" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Rechtercht · rceht · reccht · rechht · rechtt · recth · rehct · rrecht
  • Reichrecih · reicch · reichh · reihc · riech · rreich

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Recht" and "Reich" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ʁɛçt] versus [ʁaɪ̯ç]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Recht" or "Reich"?
"Recht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #227 in our German list, against #1,019 for "Reich". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list