richtvsrichtigWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: richt is a verb, richtig is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“richt” is a verb and “richtig” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37,164
“richt” frequency rank
#244
“richtig” frequency rank
37408
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature richt richtig
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs richten der Wirklichkeit entsprechend, wahr, nicht falsch

Where the eye mixes richt and richtig

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

5 ch
richt
7 ch
richtig

Why the eye confuses richt with richtig

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: richt is [ʁɪçt] while richtig is [ˈʁɪçtɪç]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “richt” sits inside “richtig”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37408, 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]. richtig is at rank #244, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʁɪçtɪç].

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 37408, this pair ranks #1,591,067 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of richt vs richtig

Shared letters: chirt. Private to "richt": -. Private to "richtig": g.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • richtircht · rciht · riccht · richht · richtt · ricth · rihct · rricht
  • richtigirchtig · rcihtig · ricchtig · richhtig · richitg · richtgi · richtigg · richttig

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "richt" for "richtig" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "richt" is a verb and "richtig" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "richt" or "richtig" show up more?
"richtig" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #244 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

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "richt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "richtig" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,591,067 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "richt" and "richtig" 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 #1,591,067 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