reichenvsreicherWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: reichen is a verb, reicher is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“reichen” is a verb and “reicher” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,568
“reichen” frequency rank
#7,656
“reicher” frequency rank
9224
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reichen reicher
Definition jemandem etwas geben Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs reich

Where the eye mixes reichen and reicher

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
reichen
7 ch
reicher

Visual trap between reichen and reicher

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: reichen is [ˈʁaɪ̯çn̩] while reicher is [ˈʁaɪ̯çɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “reichen” becomes r in “reicher”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9224, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reichen is recorded at frequency rank #1,568, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʁaɪ̯çn̩]. reicher is at rank #7,656, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʁaɪ̯çɐ].

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 9224, this pair ranks #1,980,905 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of reichen vs reicher

Shared letters: cehir. Private to "reichen": n. Private to "reicher": -.

"reichen" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "reicher" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reichenerichen · recihen · reicchen · reicehn · reichenn · reichhen · reichne · reihcen
  • reicherericher · reciher · reiccher · reicehr · reicherr · reichher · reichre · reihcer

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "reichen" and "reicher" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "reichen" is a verb and "reicher" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "reichen" or "reicher"?
"reichen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,568 in our German list, against #7,656 for "reicher". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "reichen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reicher" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,980,905 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reichen" and "reicher" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Rächer vs reicher". 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 #1,980,905 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