reckenvsregnenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#41,416
“recken” frequency rank
#14,906
“regnen” frequency rank
56322
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recken regnen
Definition in Längsrichtung dehnen/strecken in Tropfenform zu Boden fallen

Where the eye mixes recken and regnen

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

6 ch
recken
6 ch
regnen

Why the eye confuses recken with regnen

A purely visual mix-up. recken ([ˈʁɛkn̩]) and regnen ([ˈʁeːɡnən]) 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 56322, 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]. regnen is at rank #14,906, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁeːɡnən].

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 56322, this pair ranks #944,801 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of recken vs regnen

Shared letters: enr. Private to "recken": ck. Private to "regnen": g.

"recken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "regnen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reckenercken · rceken · reccken · recekn · reckenn · reckken · reckne · rekcen
  • regnenergnen · reggnen · regnenn · regnne · regnnen · rengen · rgenen · rregnen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "recken" and "regnen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʁɛkn̩] versus [ˈʁeːɡnən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "recken" or "regnen" show up more?
"regnen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,906 in our German list, against #41,416 for "recken". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "recken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "regnen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #944,801 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recken" and "regnen" 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 #944,801 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