HaarevshaarigWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#2,028
“Haare” frequency rank
#48,951
“haarig” frequency rank
50979
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Haare haarig
Definition Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Haar (dichtes) Haar habend

Where the eye mixes Haare and haarig

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Haare runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against haarig's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Haare
6 ch
haarig

Why the eye confuses Haare with haarig

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Haare is [ˈhaːʁə] while haarig is [ˈhaːʁɪç]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50979, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Haare is recorded at frequency rank #2,028, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhaːʁə]. haarig is at rank #48,951, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈhaːʁɪç].

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 50979, this pair ranks #1,153,135 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Haare vs haarig

Shared letters: ahr. Private to "Haare": e. Private to "haarig": gi.

"Haare" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "haarig" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Haare ← ahare · haaer · haarre · harae · hhaare
  • haarig ← aharig · haairg · haargi · haarigg · haarrig · haraig · harig · hhaarig

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Haare" and "haarig" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Haare" is a noun and "haarig" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Haare" vs "haarig" - which ranks higher?
"Haare" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,028 in our German list, against #48,951 for "haarig". 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 "Haare" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "haarig" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,153,135 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Haare" and "haarig" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "haarig vs hastig". 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 #1,153,135 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