reichevsReichelTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#4,153
“reiche” frequency rank
#35,985
“Reichel” frequency rank
40138
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reiche Reichel
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs reichen deutschsprachiger Nachname, Familienname

Letter map: reiche vs Reichel

Shared letters muted; letters that set reiche and Reichel apart highlighted. Shared run: 6. reiche runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against Reichel's 7 (CVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
reiche
7 ch
Reichel

Role in the sentence - reiche and Reichel

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: reiche is averb and Reichelaname. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “reiche” sits inside “Reichel”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40138, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reiche is recorded at frequency rank #4,153, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʁaɪ̯çə]. Reichel is at rank #35,985, tagged as aname, pronounced […].

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 40138, this pair ranks #1,517,035 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of reiche vs Reichel

Shared letters: cehir. Private to "reiche": -. Private to "Reichel": l.

"reiche" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "Reichel" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reiche ← eriche · recihe · reicche · reiceh · reichhe · reihce · rreiche
  • Reichel ← erichel · recihel · reicchel · reicehl · reichell · reichhel · reichle · reihcel

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "reiche" for "Reichel" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "reiche" is a verb and "Reichel" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "reiche" vs "Reichel" - which ranks higher?
"reiche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,153 in our German list, against #35,985 for "Reichel". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "reiche" and "Reichel".

  • Full dictionary entry for "reiche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Reichel" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,517,035 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reiche" and "Reichel" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs Reichel". 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 #1,517,035 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