regervsreiferWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#22,858
“reger” frequency rank
#28,824
“reifer” frequency rank
51682
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reger reifer
Definition Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs rege Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs reif

Where the eye mixes reger and reifer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. reger runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against reifer's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
reger
6 ch
reifer

Why the eye confuses reger with reifer

A purely visual mix-up. reger ([ˈʁeːɡɐ]) and reifer ([ˈʁaɪ̯fɐ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51682, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reger is recorded at frequency rank #22,858, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʁeːɡɐ]. reifer is at rank #28,824, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʁaɪ̯fɐ].

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 51682, this pair ranks #1,126,101 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of reger vs reifer

Shared letters: er. Private to "reger": g. Private to "reifer": fi.

"reger" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "reifer" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reger ← erger · reegr · regerr · regger · regre · rgeer · rreger
  • reifer ← erifer · refier · reiefr · reiferr · reiffer · reifre · riefer · rreifer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "reger" and "reifer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʁeːɡɐ] versus [ˈʁaɪ̯fɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "reger" vs "reifer" - which ranks higher?
"reger" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,858 in our German list, against #28,824 for "reifer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "reger" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reifer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,126,101 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reger" and "reifer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reibe vs reifer". 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 #1,126,101 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