ReckevsReifeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“Recke” and “Reife” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#41,415
“Recke” frequency rank
#5,416
“Reife” frequency rank
46831
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Recke Reife
Definition ungeschlachter, riesenhafter Krieger, Held aus Sagen Vollendung eines Wachstumsprozesses (bei Menschen physisch oder geistig)

Where the eye mixes Recke and Reife

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Recke (CVCCV) and Reife (CVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
Recke
5 ch
Reife

Why the eye confuses Recke with Reife

A purely visual mix-up. Recke ([ˈʁɛkə]) and Reife ([ˈʁaɪ̯fə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46831, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Recke is recorded at frequency rank #41,415, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁɛkə]. Reife is at rank #5,416, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁaɪ̯fə].

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 46831, this pair ranks #1,305,444 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Recke vs Reife

Shared letters: er. Private to "Recke": ck. Private to "Reife": fi.

"Recke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Reife" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Recke ← ercke · rceke · reccke · recek · reckke · rekce · rrecke
  • Reife ← erife · refie · reief · reiffe · riefe · rreife

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Recke" and "Reife" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʁɛkə] versus [ˈʁaɪ̯fə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Recke" or "Reife"?
"Reife" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,416 in our German list, against #41,415 for "Recke". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Recke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Reife" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,305,444 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Recke" and "Reife" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rack vs Recke". 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 #1,305,444 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