reisenvsRentenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#1,783
“reisen” frequency rank
#10,549
“Renten” frequency rank
12332
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reisen Renten
Definition sich von einem Ort zum nächsten bewegen; eine Reise unternehmen Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Rente

Where the eye mixes reisen and Renten

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

6 ch
reisen
6 ch
Renten

Visual trap between reisen and Renten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: reisen is [ˈʁaɪ̯zn̩] while Renten is [ˈʁɛntn̩]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12332, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reisen is recorded at frequency rank #1,783, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʁaɪ̯zn̩]. Renten is at rank #10,549, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁɛntn̩].

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 12332, this pair ranks #1,964,800 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of reisen vs Renten

Shared letters: enr. Private to "reisen": is. Private to "Renten": t.

"reisen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "Renten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reisen ← erisen · reiesn · reisenn · reisne · reissen · resien · rreisen
  • Renten ← renetn · rennten · rentenn · rentne · rentten · retnen · rneten · rrenten

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "reisen" for "Renten" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "reisen" is a verb and "Renten" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "reisen" or "Renten" show up more?
"reisen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,783 in our German list, against #10,549 for "Renten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "reisen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Renten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,964,800 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reisen" and "Renten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reinsten vs Renten". 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 #1,964,800 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