redenvsReesWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: reden is a verb, Rees is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“reden” is a verb and “Rees” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#640
“reden” frequency rank
#40,787
“Rees” frequency rank
41427
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reden Rees
Definition etwas sagen, Sprache von sich geben eine Stadt in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Deutschland

Where the eye mixes reden and Rees

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

5 ch
reden
4 ch
Rees

Why the eye confuses reden with Rees

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: reden is [ˈʁeːdn̩] while Rees is [ʁeːs]. 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 (verb vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41427, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reden is recorded at frequency rank #640, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʁeːdn̩]. Rees is at rank #40,787, tagged as aname, pronounced [ʁeːs].

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 41427, this pair ranks #1,479,769 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of reden vs Rees

Shared letters: er. Private to "reden": dn. Private to "Rees": s.

"reden" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Rees" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • redenrdeen · redden · redenn · redne · reedn · rreden
  • Reeseres · reess · rrees

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "reden" and "Rees" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "reden" is a verb and "Rees" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "reden" vs "Rees" - which ranks higher?
"reden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #640 in our German list, against #40,787 for "Rees". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "reden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Rees" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,479,769 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reden" and "Rees" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Rees vs Remus". 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 #1,479,769 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