reitevsresteWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#37,746
“reite” frequency rank
#6,843
“reste” frequency rank
44589
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reite reste
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs reiten Rest, Übriges

Where the eye mixes reite and reste

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

5 ch
reite
5 ch
reste

Visual trap between reite and reste

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: reite is [ˈʁaɪ̯tə] while reste is [ʁɛst]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - i in “reite” becomes s in “reste”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44589, 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]. reste is at rank #6,843, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʁɛst].

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 44589, this pair ranks #1,381,275 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of reite vs reste

Shared letters: ert. Private to "reite": i. Private to "reste": s.

"reite" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "reste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reiteerite · reiet · retie · riete · rreite
  • restereset · resste · restte · retse · rreste · rsete

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "reite" and "reste" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "reite" is a verb and "reste" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "reite" or "reste"?
"reste" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,843 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.

Useful next steps

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 "reste" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,381,275 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reite" and "reste" 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 #1,381,275 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