Which to use
“rieche” and “riechen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,097
- “rieche” frequency rank
- #9,254
- “riechen” frequency rank
- 33351
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | rieche | riechen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs riechen | den Geruch von etwas mit der Nase wahrnehmen |
Where the eye mixes rieche and riechen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. rieche runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against riechen's 7 (CVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses rieche with riechen
A purely visual mix-up. rieche ([ˈʁiːçə]) and riechen ([ˈʁiːçn̩]) 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) - “rieche” sits inside “riechen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33351, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
rieche is recorded at frequency rank #24,097, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʁiːçə]. riechen is at rank #9,254, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʁiːçn̩].
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 33351, this pair ranks #1,687,842 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of rieche vs riechen
Shared letters: cehir. Private to "rieche": -. Private to "riechen": n.
"rieche" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "riechen" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "rieche" and "riechen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "rieche" or "riechen" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "rieche" and "riechen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "rieche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "riechen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,687,842 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "rieche" and "riechen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rech vs rieche". 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 #1,687,842 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.