HackevsHockeConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#23,553
“Hacke” frequency rank
#35,239
“Hocke” frequency rank
58792
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Hacke Hocke
Definition Gartengerät zum Auflockern der Erde Heu- oder Getreidehaufen, der zum Trocknen und Nachreifen aufgestellt wird

Where the eye mixes Hacke and Hocke

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Hacke and Hocke 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
Hocke

Look-alike desk: Hacke vs Hocke

A purely visual mix-up. Hacke ([ˈhakə]) and Hocke ([ˈhɔkə]) 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 a single letter - a in “Hacke” becomes o in “Hocke”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58792, 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]. Hocke is at rank #35,239, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɔkə].

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 58792, this pair ranks #849,107 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Hacke vs Hocke

Shared letters: cehk. Private to "Hacke": a. Private to "Hocke": o.

"Hacke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Hocke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Hacke ← ahcke · haccke · hacek · hackke · hakce · hcake · hhacke
  • Hocke ← hcoke · hhocke · hoccke · hocek · hockke · hokce · ohcke

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Hacke" for "Hocke" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhakə] versus [ˈhɔkə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Hacke" or "Hocke" show up more?
"Hacke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,553 in our German list, against #35,239 for "Hocke". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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 "Hocke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #849,107 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Hacke" and "Hocke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hocke vs holde". 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 #849,107 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