ReckvsReschWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Reck is a noun, Resch is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Reck” is a noun and “Resch” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#27,465
“Reck” frequency rank
#43,443
“Resch” frequency rank
70908
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Reck Resch
Definition Turngerät für Männer, das aus zwei senkrechten Stangen und einer Querstange besteht deutscher Nachname, Familienname

Where the eye mixes Reck and Resch

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Reck
5 ch
Resch

Why the eye confuses Reck with Resch

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Reck is [ʁɛk] while Resch is [ʁɛʃ]. 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 name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70908, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Reck is recorded at frequency rank #27,465, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʁɛk]. Resch is at rank #43,443, tagged as aname, pronounced [ʁɛʃ].

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 70908, this pair ranks #432,326 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Reck vs Resch

Shared letters: cer. Private to "Reck": k. Private to "Resch": hs.

"Reck" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Resch" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Reckerck · rcek · recck · reckk · rekc · rreck
  • Reschersch · recsh · rescch · reschh · reshc · ressch · rresch · rsech

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Reck" for "Resch" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Reck" is a noun and "Resch" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Reck" vs "Resch" - which ranks higher?
"Reck" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,465 in our German list, against #43,443 for "Resch". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Reck" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Resch" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #432,326 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Reck" and "Resch" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rech vs Resch". 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 #432,326 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