reistevsRisseWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#10,925
“reiste” frequency rank
#13,680
“Risse” frequency rank
24605
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reiste Risse
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs reisen Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Riss

Where the eye mixes reiste and Risse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
reiste
5 ch
Risse

Why the eye confuses reiste with Risse

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: reiste is [ˈʁaɪ̯stə] while Risse is [ˈʁɪsə]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24605, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reiste is recorded at frequency rank #10,925, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʁaɪ̯stə]. Risse is at rank #13,680, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʁɪsə].

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 24605, this pair ranks #1,845,260 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of reiste vs Risse

Shared letters: eirs. Private to "reiste": t. Private to "Risse": -.

"reiste" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "Risse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reisteeriste · reiset · reisste · reistte · reitse · resite · rieste · rreiste
  • Risseirsse · rise · rises · riße · rrisse · rsise

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "reiste" and "Risse" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "reiste" is a verb and "Risse" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "reiste" vs "Risse" - which ranks higher?
"reiste" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,925 in our German list, against #13,680 for "Risse". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "reiste" and "Risse" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "reiste" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Risse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,845,260 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reiste" and "Risse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Risse vs russo". 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 #1,845,260 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