HadesvsHarmsTell them apart

Which to use

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

#38,792
“Hades” frequency rank
#31,599
“Harms” frequency rank
70391
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Hades Harms
Definition Gott der Unterwelt, Bruder des Zeus Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Harm

Where the eye mixes Hades and Harms

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Hades (CVCVC) and Harms (CVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
Hades
5 ch
Harms

Visual trap between Hades and Harms

A purely visual mix-up. Hades ([ˈhaːdɛs]) 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 70391, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Hades is recorded at frequency rank #38,792, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhaːdɛs]. 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 70391, this pair ranks #447,773 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Hades vs Harms

Shared letters: ahs. Private to "Hades": de. Private to "Harms": mr.

"Hades" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Harms" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Hades ← ahdes · haddes · hadess · hadse · haeds · hdaes · hhades
  • Harms ← ahrms · hamrs · harmms · harmss · harrms · harsm · hharms · hrams

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Hades" for "Harms" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhaːdɛs] versus [haʁms]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Hades" vs "Harms" - which ranks higher?
"Harms" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,599 in our German list, against #38,792 for "Hades". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Hades" and "Harms" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Hades" 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 #447,773 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Hades" and "Harms" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hades 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 #447,773 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