rentvsreyConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#37,160
“rent” frequency rank
#22,116
“rey” frequency rank
59276
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rent rey
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs renten König

Where the eye mixes rent and rey

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
rent
3 ch
rey

Visual trap between rent and rey

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rent is [ʁɛnt] while rey is [rej]. 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 59276, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rent is recorded at frequency rank #37,160, classified as averb, pronounced [ʁɛnt]. rey is at rank #22,116, tagged as anoun, pronounced [rej].

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 59276, this pair ranks #830,586 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rent vs rey

Shared letters: er. Private to "rent": nt. Private to "rey": y.

"rent" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "rey" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • renternt · rentt · retn · rnet · rrent

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "rent" for "rey" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rent" is a verb and "rey" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "rent" or "rey"?
"rey" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,116 in our German list, against #37,160 for "rent". 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 "rent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rey" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #830,586 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rent" and "rey" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recent vs rent". 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 #830,586 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