HackevsHähneTell them apart

Which to use

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

#23,553
“Hacke” frequency rank
#49,790
“Hähne” frequency rank
73343
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Hacke Hähne
Definition Gartengerät zum Auflockern der Erde Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Hahn

Where the eye mixes Hacke and Hähne

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Hacke and Hähne follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
Hacke
5 ch
Hähne

Look-alike desk: Hacke vs Hähne

A purely visual mix-up. Hacke ([ˈhakə]) and Hähne ([ˈhɛːnə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73343, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Hacke is recorded at frequency rank #23,553, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhakə]. Hähne is at rank #49,790, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɛːnə].

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 73343, this pair ranks #362,951 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Hacke vs Hähne

Shared letters: eh. Private to "Hacke": ack. Private to "Hähne": nä.

"Hacke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Hähne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Hacke ← ahcke · haccke · hacek · hackke · hakce · hcake · hhacke

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Hacke" for "Hähne" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhakə] versus [ˈhɛːnə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Hacke" or "Hähne"?
"Hacke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,553 in our German list, against #49,790 for "Hähne". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Hacke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Hähne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #362,951 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Hacke" and "Hähne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hähne vs haze". 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 #362,951 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