hackenvsHockeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: hacken is a verb, Hocke is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hacken” is a verb and “Hocke” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,485
“hacken” frequency rank
#35,239
“Hocke” frequency rank
45724
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hacken Hocke
Definition mit einem spitzen Werkzeug auflockern, zerkleinern, zerschlagen Heu- oder Getreidehaufen, der zum Trocknen und Nachreifen aufgestellt wird

Where the eye mixes hacken and Hocke

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

6 ch
hacken
5 ch
Hocke

Visual trap between hacken and Hocke

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hacken is [ˈhakn̩] while Hocke is [ˈhɔkə]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45724, 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]. 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 45724, this pair ranks #1,343,335 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hacken vs Hocke

Shared letters: cehk. Private to "hacken": an. Private to "Hocke": o.

"hacken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Hocke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hackenahcken · haccken · hacekn · hackenn · hackken · hackne · hakcen · hcaken
  • Hockehcoke · hhocke · hoccke · hocek · hockke · hokce · ohcke

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "hacken" and "Hocke" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hacken" is a verb and "Hocke" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "hacken" or "Hocke" show up more?
"hacken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,485 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 "hacken" 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 #1,343,335 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hacken" 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 #1,343,335 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