hageltvshäkelnTell them apart

Which to use

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

#42,553
“hagelt” frequency rank
#39,432
“häkeln” frequency rank
81985
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hagelt häkeln
Definition 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs hageln einen Faden mit Hilfe einer Häkelnadel zu zusammenhängenden Maschen verknüpfen

Where the eye mixes hagelt and häkeln

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

6 ch
hagelt
6 ch
häkeln

Why the eye confuses hagelt with häkeln

A purely visual mix-up. hagelt ([ˈhaːɡl̩t]) and häkeln ([ˈhɛːkl̩n]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81985, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hagelt is recorded at frequency rank #42,553, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhaːɡl̩t]. häkeln is at rank #39,432, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhɛːkl̩n].

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 81985, this pair ranks #165,510 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hagelt vs häkeln

Shared letters: ehl. Private to "hagelt": agt. Private to "häkeln": knä.

"hagelt" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "häkeln" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hagelt ← ahgelt · haeglt · hagellt · hageltt · hagetl · haggelt · haglet · hgaelt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "hagelt" for "häkeln" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhaːɡl̩t] versus [ˈhɛːkl̩n]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "hagelt" or "häkeln"?
"häkeln" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,432 in our German list, against #42,553 for "hagelt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "hagelt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "häkeln" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #165,510 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hagelt" and "häkeln" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hagelt vs hapert". 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 #165,510 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