reibevsreimenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#45,543
“reibe” frequency rank
#34,881
“reimen” frequency rank
80424
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reibe reimen
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs reiben Reime bilden

Where the eye mixes reibe and reimen

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

5 ch
reibe
6 ch
reimen

Visual trap between reibe and reimen

A purely visual mix-up. reibe ([ˈʁaɪ̯bə]) and reimen ([ˈʁaɪ̯mən]) 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 80424, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reibe is recorded at frequency rank #45,543, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʁaɪ̯bə]. reimen is at rank #34,881, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁaɪ̯mən].

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 80424, this pair ranks #195,914 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of reibe vs reimen

Shared letters: eir. Private to "reibe": b. Private to "reimen": mn.

"reibe" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "reimen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reibe ← eribe · rebie · reibbe · reieb · riebe · rreibe
  • reimen ← erimen · reiemn · reimenn · reimmen · reimne · remien · rreimen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "reibe" for "reimen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʁaɪ̯bə] versus [ˈʁaɪ̯mən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "reibe" or "reimen"?
"reimen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,881 in our German list, against #45,543 for "reibe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "reibe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reimen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #195,914 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reibe" and "reimen" 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 #195,914 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