hagervsHaieConfusable pair

Quick tell: hager is a adjective, Haie is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hager” is an adjective and “Haie” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#29,164
“hager” frequency rank
#16,444
“Haie” frequency rank
45608
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hager Haie
Definition dürr, mager, sehnig, knochig (und häufig groß gewachsen) Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Hai

Where the eye mixes hager and Haie

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
hager
4 ch
Haie

Why the eye confuses hager with Haie

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hager is [ˈhaːɡɐ] while Haie is [ˈhaɪ̯ə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45608, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hager is recorded at frequency rank #29,164, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈhaːɡɐ]. Haie is at rank #16,444, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhaɪ̯ə].

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 45608, this pair ranks #1,347,266 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hager vs Haie

Shared letters: aeh. Private to "hager": gr. Private to "Haie": i.

"hager" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Haie" · 4 letters · shape CVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hagerahger · haegr · hagerr · hagger · hagre · hgaer · hhager
  • Haieahie · haei · hhaie · hiae

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "hager" and "Haie" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hager" is an adjective and "Haie" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hager" or "Haie"?
"Haie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,444 in our German list, against #29,164 for "hager". 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 "hager" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Haie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,347,266 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hager" and "Haie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hager vs Hemer". 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 #1,347,266 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