rechtemvsrechtenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: rechtem is a adjective, rechten is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“rechtem” is an adjective and “rechten” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,167
“rechtem” frequency rank
#1,090
“rechten” frequency rank
45257
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rechtem rechten
Definition Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs recht sich (verbal) mit jemandem über oder um etwas streiten (um sein Recht zu behaupten); für sein Recht einstehen, sein Recht von jemandem fordern

Where the eye mixes rechtem and rechten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. rechtem and rechten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
rechtem
7 ch
rechten

Look-alike desk: rechtem vs rechten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rechtem is [ˈʁɛçtəm] while rechten is [ˈʁɛçtn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - m in “rechtem” becomes n in “rechten”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45257, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rechtem is recorded at frequency rank #44,167, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʁɛçtəm]. rechten is at rank #1,090, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁɛçtn̩].

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 45257, this pair ranks #1,359,231 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rechtem vs rechten

Shared letters: cehrt. Private to "rechtem": m. Private to "rechten": n.

"rechtem" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "rechten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rechtem ← erchtem · rcehtem · recchtem · rechetm · rechhtem · rechtemm · rechtme · rechttem
  • rechten ← erchten · rcehten · recchten · rechetn · rechhten · rechtenn · rechtne · rechtten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rechtem" and "rechten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rechtem" is an adjective and "rechten" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "rechtem" vs "rechten" - which ranks higher?
"rechten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,090 in our German list, against #44,167 for "rechtem". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rechtem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rechten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,359,231 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rechtem" and "rechten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rechen vs rechtem". 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 #1,359,231 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