ReifevsresteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#5,416
“Reife” frequency rank
#6,843
“reste” frequency rank
12259
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Reife reste
Definition Vollendung eines Wachstumsprozesses (bei Menschen physisch oder geistig) Rest, Übriges

Where the eye mixes Reife and reste

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Reife
5 ch
reste

Visual trap between Reife and reste

A purely visual mix-up. Reife ([ˈʁaɪ̯fə]) and reste ([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 12259, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Reife is recorded at frequency rank #5,416, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁaɪ̯fə]. reste is at rank #6,843, 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 12259, this pair ranks #1,965,252 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Reife vs reste

Shared letters: er. Private to "Reife": fi. Private to "reste": st.

"Reife" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "reste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Reifeerife · refie · reief · reiffe · riefe · rreife
  • restereset · resste · restte · retse · rreste · rsete

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Reife" for "reste" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʁaɪ̯fə] versus [ʁɛst]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Reife" or "reste" show up more?
"Reife" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,416 in our German list, against #6,843 for "reste". 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 "Reife" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reste" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,965,252 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Reife" and "reste" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "regst vs reste". 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 #1,965,252 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