rechtsvsrichtTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#708
“rechts” frequency rank
#37,164
“richt” frequency rank
37872
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rechts richt
Definition seitlich im Gegenteil zu links 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs richten

Where the eye mixes rechts and richt

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

6 ch
rechts
5 ch
richt

Visual trap between rechts and richt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rechts is [ʁɛçt͡s] while richt is [ʁɪçt]. 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 37872, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rechts is recorded at frequency rank #708, classified as anadv, pronounced [ʁɛçt͡s]. richt is at rank #37,164, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʁɪçt].

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 37872, this pair ranks #1,578,863 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of rechts vs richt

Shared letters: chrt. Private to "rechts": es. Private to "richt": i.

"rechts" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCC  ·  "richt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rechts ← erchts · rcehts · recchts · rechhts · rechst · rechtss · rechtts · recths
  • richt ← ircht · rciht · riccht · richht · richtt · ricth · rihct · rricht

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rechts" and "richt" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rechts" is an adverb and "richt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "rechts" or "richt"?
"rechts" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #708 in our German list, against #37,164 for "richt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "rechts" and "richt" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rechts" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "richt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,578,863 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rechts" and "richt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rech vs richt". 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 #1,578,863 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