rechtemvsrichtetWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#44,167
“rechtem” frequency rank
#3,616
“richtet” frequency rank
47783
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rechtem richtet
Definition Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs recht 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs richten

Where the eye mixes rechtem and richtet

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. rechtem and richtet 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
richtet

Why the eye confuses rechtem with richtet

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rechtem is [ˈʁɛçtəm] while richtet is [ˈʁɪçtət]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47783, 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]. richtet is at rank #3,616, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁɪçtət].

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 47783, this pair ranks #1,272,154 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rechtem vs richtet

Shared letters: cehrt. Private to "rechtem": m. Private to "richtet": i.

"rechtem" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "richtet" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rechtemerchtem · rcehtem · recchtem · rechetm · rechhtem · rechtemm · rechtme · rechttem
  • richtetirchtet · rcihtet · ricchtet · richett · richhtet · richtett · richtte · richttet

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "rechtem" for "richtet" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rechtem" is an adjective and "richtet" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "rechtem" or "richtet" show up more?
"richtet" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,616 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.

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 "rechtem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "richtet" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,272,154 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rechtem" and "richtet" 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 #1,272,154 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