hackenvsharrenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#10,485
“hacken” frequency rank
#48,956
“harren” frequency rank
59441
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hacken harren
Definition mit einem spitzen Werkzeug auflockern, zerkleinern, zerschlagen (hoffend) auf etwas oder jemanden warten

Where the eye mixes hacken and harren

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. hacken and harren follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
hacken
6 ch
harren

Look-alike desk: hacken vs harren

A purely visual mix-up. hacken ([ˈhakn̩]) and harren ([ˈhaʁən]) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59441, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hacken is recorded at frequency rank #10,485, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhakn̩]. harren is at rank #48,956, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhaʁən].

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 59441, this pair ranks #824,386 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hacken vs harren

Shared letters: aehn. Private to "hacken": ck. Private to "harren": r.

"hacken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "harren" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hacken ← ahcken · haccken · hacekn · hackenn · hackken · hackne · hakcen · hcaken
  • harren ← ahrren · harern · harrenn · harrne · hharren · hraren

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "hacken" and "harren" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhakn̩] versus [ˈhaʁən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "hacken" or "harren"?
"hacken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,485 in our German list, against #48,956 for "harren". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "hacken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "harren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #824,386 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hacken" and "harren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "harren vs Häuten". 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 #824,386 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