ReinenvsrinnenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Reinen is a noun, rinnen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Reinen” is a noun and “rinnen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,418
“Reinen” frequency rank
#46,945
“rinnen” frequency rank
52363
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Reinen rinnen
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Rein langsam und in geringer Menge fließen

Where the eye mixes Reinen and rinnen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Reinen (CVVCVC) and rinnen (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
Reinen
6 ch
rinnen

Why the eye confuses Reinen with rinnen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Reinen is [ˈʁaɪ̯nən] while rinnen is [ˈʁɪnən]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52363, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Reinen is recorded at frequency rank #5,418, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁaɪ̯nən]. rinnen is at rank #46,945, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁɪnən].

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 52363, this pair ranks #1,099,794 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Reinen vs rinnen

Shared letters: einr. Private to "Reinen": -. Private to "rinnen": -.

"Reinen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "rinnen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Reinen ← erinen · reienn · reinenn · reinnen · renien · rienen · rreinen
  • rinnen ← irnnen · rinenn · rinnenn · rinnne · rninen · rrinnen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Reinen" and "rinnen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Reinen" is a noun and "rinnen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Reinen" or "rinnen" show up more?
"Reinen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,418 in our German list, against #46,945 for "rinnen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Reinen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rinnen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,099,794 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Reinen" and "rinnen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "raunen 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 #1,099,794 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