Which to use
“reed” and “road” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,037
- “reed” frequency rank
- #7,385
- “road” frequency rank
- 25422
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | reed | road |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | bestimmtes Gras; Schilf | Straße |
Where the eye mixes reed and road
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between reed and road
A purely visual mix-up. reed ([riːd]) and road ([rəʊd]) 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 25422, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
reed is recorded at frequency rank #18,037, classified as anoun, pronounced [riːd]. road is at rank #7,385, tagged as anoun, pronounced [rəʊd].
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 25422, this pair ranks #1,833,542 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of reed vs road
Shared letters: dr. Private to "reed": e. Private to "road": ao.
"reed" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "road" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "reed" and "road" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "reed" or "road"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "reed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "road" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,833,542 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "reed" and "road" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rech vs reed". 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 #1,833,542 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.