ReisvsreistTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#5,419
“Reis” frequency rank
#7,803
“reist” frequency rank
13222
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Reis reist
Definition weißes, gekocht gegessenes Getreide 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs reisen

Where the eye mixes Reis and reist

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Reis runs 4 letters (CVVC) against reist's 5 (CVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Reis
5 ch
reist

Why the eye confuses Reis with reist

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Reis is [ʁaɪ̯s] while reist is [ʁaɪ̯st]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Reis” sits inside “reist”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13222, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Reis is recorded at frequency rank #5,419, classified as anoun, pronounced [ʁaɪ̯s]. reist is at rank #7,803, tagged as averb, pronounced [ʁaɪ̯st].

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 13222, this pair ranks #1,959,335 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Reis vs reist

Shared letters: eirs. Private to "Reis": -. Private to "reist": t.

"Reis" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "reist" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Reis ← eris · reiss · resi · rreis
  • reist ← erist · reisst · reistt · reits · resit · riest · rreist

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Reis" for "reist" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Reis" is a noun and "reist" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Reis" or "reist" show up more?
"Reis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,419 in our German list, against #7,803 for "reist". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Reis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reist" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,959,335 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Reis" and "reist" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "regst vs reist". 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 #1,959,335 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