Which to use
“Hafen” is a noun and “hören” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,532
- “Hafen” frequency rank
- #702
- “hören” frequency rank
- 4234
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Hafen | hören |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | natürliches oder künstlich angelegtes Wasserbecken für Schiffe am Meeresrand oder an Binnenwasserwegen, um dort zu liegen und zu ankern, mit Anlagen zum Löschen, Laden, Reinigen und Ausbessern | mit den Ohren |
Where the eye mixes Hafen and hören
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Hafen is [ˈhaːfn̩] while hören is [ˈhøːʁən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4234, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Hafen is recorded at frequency rank #3,532, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhaːfn̩]. hören is at rank #702, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhøːʁən].
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 4234, this pair ranks #1,998,216 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Hafen vs hören
Shared letters: ehn. Private to "Hafen": af. Private to "hören": rö.
"Hafen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "hören" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- Hafen ← ahfen · haefn · hafenn · haffen · hafne · hfaen · hhafen