ReifvsRestTell them apart

Which to use

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

#7,983
“Reif” frequency rank
#1,119
“Rest” frequency rank
9102
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Reif Rest
Definition kristalline Ablagerung aus gefrorenem Wasser, die sich in kalten Nächten durch Resublimation an Pflanzen und Gegenständen bildet übrig bleibender Teil des Ganzen

Where the eye mixes Reif and Rest

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Reif (CVVC) and Rest (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
Reif
4 ch
Rest

Look-alike desk: Reif vs Rest

A purely visual mix-up. Reif ([ʁaɪ̯f]) and Rest ([ʁɛst]) 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 9102, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Reif is recorded at frequency rank #7,983, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʁaɪ̯f]. Rest is at rank #1,119, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʁɛst].

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 9102, this pair ranks #1,981,465 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Reif vs Rest

Shared letters: er. Private to "Reif": fi. Private to "Rest": st.

"Reif" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "Rest" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Reiferif · refi · reiff · rreif
  • Restresst · restt · rets · rrest · rset

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Reif" for "Rest" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ʁaɪ̯f] versus [ʁɛst]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Reif" or "Rest" show up more?
"Rest" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,119 in our German list, against #7,983 for "Reif". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Reif" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Rest" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,981,465 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Reif" and "Rest" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rech vs Reif". 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 #1,981,465 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