HacksvsHarmsConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#34,711
“Hacks” frequency rank
#31,599
“Harms” frequency rank
66310
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Hacks Harms
Definition Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Hack Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Harm

Where the eye mixes Hacks and Harms

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Hacks and Harms follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
Hacks
5 ch
Harms

Why the eye confuses Hacks with Harms

A purely visual mix-up. Hacks ([haks]) and Harms ([haʁms]) 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 66310, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Hacks is recorded at frequency rank #34,711, classified as anoun, pronounced [haks]. Harms is at rank #31,599, tagged as anoun, pronounced [haʁms].

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 66310, this pair ranks #577,635 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Hacks vs Harms

Shared letters: ahs. Private to "Hacks": ck. Private to "Harms": mr.

"Hacks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "Harms" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Hacks ← ahcks · haccks · hackks · hackss · hacsk · hakcs · hcaks · hhacks
  • Harms ← ahrms · hamrs · harmms · harmss · harrms · harsm · hharms · hrams

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Hacks" and "Harms" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([haks] versus [haʁms]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Hacks" or "Harms"?
"Harms" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,599 in our German list, against #34,711 for "Hacks". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Hacks" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Harms" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #577,635 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Hacks" and "Harms" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hardi vs Harms". 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 #577,635 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