richtvsrichtenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#37,164
“richt” frequency rank
#3,275
“richten” frequency rank
40439
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature richt richten
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs richten etwas Krummes gerade machen, geradebiegen, in eine senkrechte Stellung bringen

Where the eye mixes richt and richten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. richt runs 5 letters (CVCCC) against richten's 7 (CVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
richt
7 ch
richten

Why the eye confuses richt with richten

A purely visual mix-up. richt ([ʁɪçt]) and richten ([ˈʁɪçtn̩]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “richt” sits inside “richten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40439, 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]. richten is at rank #3,275, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁɪçtn̩].

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 40439, this pair ranks #1,508,483 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of richt vs richten

Shared letters: chirt. Private to "richt": -. Private to "richten": en.

"richt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "richten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • richt ← ircht · rciht · riccht · richht · richtt · ricth · rihct · rricht
  • richten ← irchten · rcihten · ricchten · richetn · richhten · richtenn · richtne · richtten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "richt" and "richten" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ʁɪçt] versus [ˈʁɪçtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "richt" or "richten" show up more?
"richten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,275 in our German list, against #37,164 for "richt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "richt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "richten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,508,483 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "richt" and "richten" 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 #1,508,483 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