RedevsreibeConfusable pair

Quick tell: Rede is a noun, reibe is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Rede” is a noun and “reibe” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#868
“Rede” frequency rank
#45,543
“reibe” frequency rank
46411
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Rede reibe
Definition Ansprache, Vortrag vor anderen Personen 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs reiben

Where the eye mixes Rede and reibe

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

4 ch
Rede
5 ch
reibe

Visual trap between Rede and reibe

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Rede is [ˈʁeːdə] while reibe is [ˈʁaɪ̯bə]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46411, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Rede is recorded at frequency rank #868, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁeːdə]. reibe is at rank #45,543, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁaɪ̯bə].

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 46411, this pair ranks #1,320,049 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Rede vs reibe

Shared letters: er. Private to "Rede": d. Private to "reibe": bi.

"Rede" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "reibe" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Rederdee · redde · rrede
  • reibeeribe · rebie · reibbe · reieb · riebe · rreibe

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Rede" for "reibe" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Rede" is a noun and "reibe" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Rede" or "reibe" show up more?
"Rede" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #868 in our German list, against #45,543 for "reibe". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Rede" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reibe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,320,049 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Rede" and "reibe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reibe vs Robbe". 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 #1,320,049 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