reckenvsredenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#41,416
“recken” frequency rank
#640
“reden” frequency rank
42056
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recken reden
Definition in Längsrichtung dehnen/strecken etwas sagen, Sprache von sich geben

Where the eye mixes recken and reden

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
recken
5 ch
reden

Why the eye confuses recken with reden

A purely visual mix-up. recken ([ˈʁɛkn̩]) and reden ([ˈʁeːdn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42056, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recken is recorded at frequency rank #41,416, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʁɛkn̩]. reden is at rank #640, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁeːdn̩].

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 42056, this pair ranks #1,460,905 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of recken vs reden

Shared letters: enr. Private to "recken": ck. Private to "reden": d.

"recken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "reden" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reckenercken · rceken · reccken · recekn · reckenn · reckken · reckne · rekcen
  • redenrdeen · redden · redenn · redne · reedn · rreden

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "recken" and "reden" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʁɛkn̩] versus [ˈʁeːdn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "recken" vs "reden" - which ranks higher?
"reden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #640 in our German list, against #41,416 for "recken". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "recken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,460,905 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recken" and "reden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recken vs Rückens". 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 #1,460,905 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