Which to use
“Reims” is a name and “reine” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #38,364
- “Reims” frequency rank
- #3,068
- “reine” frequency rank
- 41432
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Reims | reine |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | nordfranzösische Stadt | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs rein |
Where the eye mixes Reims and reine
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Reims (CVVCC) and reine (CVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses Reims with reine
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Reims is [ʁɛ̃ːs] while reine is [ˈʁaɪ̯nə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41432, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Reims is recorded at frequency rank #38,364, classified as aname, pronounced [ʁɛ̃ːs]. reine is at rank #3,068, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʁaɪ̯nə].
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 41432, this pair ranks #1,479,600 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Reims vs reine
Shared letters: eir. Private to "Reims": ms. Private to "reine": n.
"Reims" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "reine" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Reims" for "reine" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "Reims" or "reine" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Reims" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "reine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,479,600 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Reims" and "reine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Reims vs Remus". 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 #1,479,600 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.