reitevsreizenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#37,746
“reite” frequency rank
#18,674
“reizen” frequency rank
56420
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reite reizen
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs reiten jemandes Interesse wecken

Where the eye mixes reite and reizen

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

5 ch
reite
6 ch
reizen

Why the eye confuses reite with reizen

A purely visual mix-up. reite ([ˈʁaɪ̯tə]) and reizen ([ˈʁaɪ̯t͡sn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56420, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reite is recorded at frequency rank #37,746, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʁaɪ̯tə]. reizen is at rank #18,674, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁaɪ̯t͡sn̩].

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 56420, this pair ranks #940,840 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of reite vs reizen

Shared letters: eir. Private to "reite": t. Private to "reizen": nz.

"reite" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "reizen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reiteerite · reiet · retie · riete · rreite
  • reizenerizen · reiezn · reizenn · reizne · reizzen · rezien · riezen · rreizen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "reite" for "reizen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʁaɪ̯tə] versus [ˈʁaɪ̯t͡sn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "reite" or "reizen"?
"reizen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,674 in our German list, against #37,746 for "reite". 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 "reite" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reizen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #940,840 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reite" and "reizen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ragte vs reite". 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 #940,840 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