reinevsringeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,068
“reine” frequency rank
#6,463
“ringe” frequency rank
9531
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reine ringe
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs rein Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs ring

Where the eye mixes reine and ringe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. reine (CVVCV) and ringe (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
reine
5 ch
ringe

Look-alike desk: reine vs ringe

A purely visual mix-up. reine ([ˈʁaɪ̯nə]) and ringe ([ˈʁɪŋə]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9531, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reine is recorded at frequency rank #3,068, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʁaɪ̯nə]. ringe is at rank #6,463, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʁɪŋə].

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 9531, this pair ranks #1,979,501 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of reine vs ringe

Shared letters: einr. Private to "reine": -. Private to "ringe": g.

"reine" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "ringe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reine ← erine · reien · reinne · renie · riene · rreine
  • ringe ← irnge · rigne · rineg · ringge · rinnge · rnige · rringe

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "reine" for "ringe" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʁaɪ̯nə] versus [ˈʁɪŋə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "reine" or "ringe"?
"reine" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,068 in our German list, against #6,463 for "ringe". 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 "reine" and "ringe" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "reine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ringe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,979,501 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reine" and "ringe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ringe vs rinnen". 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 #1,979,501 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