reinvsRinWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: rein is a adjective, Rin is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“rein” is an adjective and “Rin” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#605
“rein” frequency rank
#31,242
“Rin” frequency rank
31847
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rein Rin
Definition ganz unverschmutzt der Rhein

Where the eye mixes rein and Rin

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

4 ch
rein
3 ch
Rin

Why the eye confuses rein with Rin

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rein is [ʁaɪ̯n] while Rin is [rin]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31847, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rein is recorded at frequency rank #605, classified as anadj, pronounced [ʁaɪ̯n]. Rin is at rank #31,242, tagged as aname, pronounced [rin].

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 31847, this pair ranks #1,719,828 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of rein vs Rin

Shared letters: inr. Private to "rein": e. Private to "Rin": -.

"rein" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "Rin" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reinreinn · reni · rien · rrein

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "rein" and "Rin" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rein" is an adjective and "Rin" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "rein" or "Rin" show up more?
"rein" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #605 in our German list, against #31,242 for "Rin". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "rein" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Rin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,719,828 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rein" and "Rin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Rin vs RUB". 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 #1,719,828 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