haftetvshattetConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#14,316
“haftet” frequency rank
#13,161
“hattet” frequency rank
27477
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature haftet hattet
Definition 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs haften 2. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs haben

Where the eye mixes haftet and hattet

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. haftet and hattet follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
haftet
6 ch
hattet

Why the eye confuses haftet with hattet

A purely visual mix-up. haftet ([ˈhaftət]) and hattet ([ˈhatət]) 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 a single letter - f in “haftet” becomes t in “hattet”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27477, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

haftet is recorded at frequency rank #14,316, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhaftət]. hattet is at rank #13,161, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhatət].

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 27477, this pair ranks #1,801,182 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of haftet vs hattet

Shared letters: aeht. Private to "haftet": f. Private to "hattet": -.

"haftet" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "hattet" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • haftet ← ahftet · hafett · hafftet · haftett · haftte · hafttet · hatfet · hfatet
  • hattet ← ahttet · hatett · hattett · hattte · hhattet · htatet

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "haftet" for "hattet" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhaftət] versus [ˈhatət]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "haftet" or "hattet" show up more?
"hattet" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,161 in our German list, against #14,316 for "haftet". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "haftet" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hattet" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,801,182 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "haftet" and "hattet" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "haftet vs Häuten". 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 #1,801,182 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