hageltvsHamelnTell them apart

Quick tell: hagelt is a verb, Hameln is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hagelt” is a verb and “Hameln” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,553
“hagelt” frequency rank
#20,285
“Hameln” frequency rank
62838
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hagelt Hameln
Definition 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs hageln eine Stadt in Niedersachsen, Deutschland

Where the eye mixes hagelt and Hameln

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. hagelt and Hameln 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
Hameln

Why the eye confuses hagelt with Hameln

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hagelt is [ˈhaːɡl̩t] while Hameln is [ˈhaːml̩n]. 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 (verb vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62838, 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]. Hameln is at rank #20,285, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈhaːml̩n].

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 62838, this pair ranks #698,377 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hagelt vs Hameln

Shared letters: aehl. Private to "hagelt": gt. Private to "Hameln": mn.

"hagelt" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "Hameln" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hagelt ← ahgelt · haeglt · hagellt · hageltt · hagetl · haggelt · haglet · hgaelt
  • Hameln ← ahmeln · haemln · hamelln · hamelnn · hamenl · hamlen · hammeln · hhameln

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "hagelt" for "Hameln" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hagelt" is a verb and "Hameln" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hagelt" or "Hameln"?
"Hameln" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,285 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.

Useful next steps

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 "Hameln" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #698,377 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hagelt" and "Hameln" 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 #698,377 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