richtevsrichteteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#13,000
“richte” frequency rank
#6,584
“richtete” frequency rank
19584
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature richte richtete
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs richten 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs richten

Where the eye mixes richte and richtete

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. richte runs 6 letters (CVCCCV) against richtete's 8 (CVCCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
richte
8 ch
richtete

Look-alike desk: richte vs richtete

A purely visual mix-up. richte ([ˈʁɪçtə]) and richtete ([ˈʁɪçtətə]) 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) - “richte” sits inside “richtete”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19584, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

richte is recorded at frequency rank #13,000, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʁɪçtə]. richtete is at rank #6,584, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁɪçtətə].

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 19584, this pair ranks #1,906,796 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of richte vs richtete

Shared letters: cehirt. Private to "richte": -. Private to "richtete": -.

"richte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "richtete" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • richteirchte · rcihte · ricchte · richet · richhte · ricthe · rihcte · rrichte
  • richteteirchtete · rcihtete · ricchtete · richette · richhtete · richteet · richtette · richttee

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "richte" for "richtete" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʁɪçtə] versus [ˈʁɪçtətə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "richte" vs "richtete" - which ranks higher?
"richtete" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,584 in our German list, against #13,000 for "richte". 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 "richte" and "richtete" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "richte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "richtete" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,906,796 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "richte" and "richtete" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rechtem vs richte". 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 #1,906,796 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