HabenvshenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#50
“Haben” frequency rank
#34,162
“hen” frequency rank
34212
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Haben hen
Definition Gesamtheit der Einnahmen und des Besitzes, Guthaben die Henne, ein weiblicher Vogel

Where the eye mixes Haben and hen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Haben
3 ch
hen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. Haben ([ˈhaːbn̩]) and hen ([hɛn]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34212, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Haben is recorded at frequency rank #50, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhaːbn̩]. hen is at rank #34,162, tagged as anoun, pronounced [hɛn].

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 34212, this pair ranks #1,668,531 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Haben vs hen

Shared letters: ehn. Private to "Haben": ab. Private to "hen": -.

"Haben" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "hen" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Habenahben · habben · habenn · habne · haebn · hbaen · hhaben

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Haben" and "hen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhaːbn̩] versus [hɛn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Haben" or "hen"?
"Haben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #50 in our German list, against #34,162 for "hen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list