reckenvsreizenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#41,416
“recken” frequency rank
#18,674
“reizen” frequency rank
60090
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recken reizen
Definition in Längsrichtung dehnen/strecken jemandes Interesse wecken

Where the eye mixes recken and reizen

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

6 ch
recken
6 ch
reizen

Visual trap between recken and reizen

A purely visual mix-up. recken ([ˈʁɛkn̩]) and reizen ([ˈʁaɪ̯t͡sn̩]) 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 60090, 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]. reizen is at rank #18,674, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁaɪ̯t͡sn̩].

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 60090, this pair ranks #799,989 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of recken vs reizen

Shared letters: enr. Private to "recken": ck. Private to "reizen": iz.

"recken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "reizen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reckenercken · rceken · reccken · recekn · reckenn · reckken · reckne · rekcen
  • reizenerizen · reiezn · reizenn · reizne · reizzen · rezien · riezen · rreizen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "recken" and "reizen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʁɛkn̩] versus [ˈʁaɪ̯t͡sn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "recken" vs "reizen" - which ranks higher?
"reizen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,674 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.

After this comparison

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 "reizen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #799,989 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recken" and "reizen" 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 #799,989 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