Which to use
“haften” and “halte” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,504
- “haften” frequency rank
- #1,390
- “halte” frequency rank
- 13894
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | haften | halte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | an etwas kleben, an etwas festhängen | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs halten |
Where the eye mixes haften and halte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses haften with halte
A purely visual mix-up. haften ([ˈhaftn̩]) and halte ([ˈhaltə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13894, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
haften is recorded at frequency rank #12,504, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhaftn̩]. halte is at rank #1,390, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhaltə].
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 13894, this pair ranks #1,954,954 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of haften vs halte
Shared letters: aeht. Private to "haften": fn. Private to "halte": l.
"haften" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "halte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "haften" for "halte" ever safe?
Frequency check: "haften" vs "halte" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "haften" and "halte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "haften" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "halte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,954,954 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "haften" and "halte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "haften vs harren". 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 #1,954,954 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.