RechtevsretteTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#891
“Rechte” frequency rank
#25,285
“rette” frequency rank
26176
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Rechte rette
Definition die rechts gelegene Hand 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs retten

Where the eye mixes Rechte and rette

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

6 ch
Rechte
5 ch
rette

Look-alike desk: Rechte vs rette

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Rechte is [ˈʁɛçtə] while rette is [ˈʁɛtə]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26176, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Rechte is recorded at frequency rank #891, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁɛçtə]. rette is at rank #25,285, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁɛtə].

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 26176, this pair ranks #1,822,011 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Rechte vs rette

Shared letters: ert. Private to "Rechte": ch. Private to "rette": -.

"Rechte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "rette" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Rechteerchte · rcehte · recchte · rechet · rechhte · rechtte · recthe · rehcte
  • retteertte · rete · rrette

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Rechte" and "rette" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Rechte" is a noun and "rette" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Rechte" or "rette"?
"Rechte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #891 in our German list, against #25,285 for "rette". 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 "Rechte" and "rette" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Rechte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rette" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,822,011 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Rechte" and "rette" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ragte vs rette". 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 #1,822,011 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