reivsreichWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: rei is a noun, reich is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“rei” is a noun and “reich” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#794
“rei” frequency rank
#21,569
“reich” frequency rank
22363
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rei reich
Definition soberano; monarca; czar rico

Where the eye mixes rei and reich

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. rei runs 3 letters (CVV) against reich's 5 (CVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
rei
5 ch
reich

Look-alike desk: rei vs reich

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rei is /ˈRɐj/ while reich is /ʀaɪ̯ç/ ouvir^(fonte ?). Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “rei” sits inside “reich”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22363, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rei is recorded at frequency rank #794, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈRɐj/. reich is at rank #21,569, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ʀaɪ̯ç/ ouvir^(fonte ?).

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 22363, this pair ranks #47,699 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rei vs reich

Shared letters: eir. Private to "rei": -. Private to "reich": ch.

"rei" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "reich" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reich ← erich · recih · reicch · reichh · reihc · riech · rreich

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rei" and "reich" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rei" is a noun and "reich" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "rei" or "reich" show up more?
"rei" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #794 in our Portuguese list, against #21,569 for "reich". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rei" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reich" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #47,699 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rei" and "reich" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reach vs reich". 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 #47,699 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list