rechtsvsreichteWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: rechts is a adverb, reichte is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“rechts” is an adverb and “reichte” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#708
“rechts” frequency rank
#5,415
“reichte” frequency rank
6123
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rechts reichte
Definition seitlich im Gegenteil zu links 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs reichen

Where the eye mixes rechts and reichte

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

6 ch
rechts
7 ch
reichte

Visual trap between rechts and reichte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rechts is [ʁɛçt͡s] while reichte is [ˈʁaɪ̯çtə]. 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 (adverb vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6123, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rechts is recorded at frequency rank #708, classified as anadv, pronounced [ʁɛçt͡s]. reichte is at rank #5,415, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁaɪ̯çtə].

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 6123, this pair ranks #1,992,641 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of rechts vs reichte

Shared letters: cehrt. Private to "rechts": s. Private to "reichte": i.

"rechts" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCC  ·  "reichte" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rechtserchts · rcehts · recchts · rechhts · rechst · rechtss · rechtts · recths
  • reichteerichte · recihte · reicchte · reichet · reichhte · reichtte · reicthe · reihcte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rechts" and "reichte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rechts" is an adverb and "reichte" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "rechts" vs "reichte" - which ranks higher?
"rechts" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #708 in our German list, against #5,415 for "reichte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "rechts" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reichte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,992,641 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rechts" and "reichte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rechtem vs reichte". 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 #1,992,641 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