richtvsrichteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#37,164
“richt” frequency rank
#13,000
“richte” frequency rank
50164
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature richt richte
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs richten 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs richten

Where the eye mixes richt and richte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
richt
6 ch
richte

Why the eye confuses richt with richte

A purely visual mix-up. richt ([ʁɪçt]) and richte ([ˈʁɪçtə]) 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 extra letter(s) - “richt” sits inside “richte”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50164, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

richt is recorded at frequency rank #37,164, classified as averb, pronounced [ʁɪçt]. richte is at rank #13,000, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁɪçtə].

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 50164, this pair ranks #1,184,189 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of richt vs richte

Shared letters: chirt. Private to "richt": -. Private to "richte": e.

"richt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "richte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • richtircht · rciht · riccht · richht · richtt · ricth · rihct · rricht
  • richteirchte · rcihte · ricchte · richet · richhte · ricthe · rihcte · rrichte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "richt" and "richte" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ʁɪçt] versus [ˈʁɪçtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "richt" or "richte" show up more?
"richte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,000 in our German list, against #37,164 for "richt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "richt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "richte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,184,189 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "richt" and "richte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rech vs richt". 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 #1,184,189 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