RechtevsruhteWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#891
“Rechte” frequency rank
#36,599
“ruhte” frequency rank
37490
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Rechte ruhte
Definition die rechts gelegene Hand 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs ruhen

Where the eye mixes Rechte and ruhte

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

6 ch
Rechte
5 ch
ruhte

Look-alike desk: Rechte vs ruhte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Rechte is [ˈʁɛçtə] while ruhte is [ˈʁuːtə]. 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 37490, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Rechte is recorded at frequency rank #891, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁɛçtə]. ruhte is at rank #36,599, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁuːtə].

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 37490, this pair ranks #1,588,833 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Rechte vs ruhte

Shared letters: ehrt. Private to "Rechte": c. Private to "ruhte": u.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Rechte ← erchte · rcehte · recchte · rechet · rechhte · rechtte · recthe · rehcte
  • ruhte ← rhute · rruhte · ruhet · ruhhte · ruhtte · ruthe · urhte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Rechte" for "ruhte" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Rechte" is a noun and "ruhte" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Rechte" vs "ruhte" - which ranks higher?
"Rechte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #891 in our German list, against #36,599 for "ruhte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "Rechte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ruhte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,588,833 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Rechte" and "ruhte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rühmen vs ruhte". 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 #1,588,833 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