HahnvshohlWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Hahn is a noun, hohl is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#4,046
“Hahn” frequency rank
#18,281
“hohl” frequency rank
22327
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Hahn hohl
Definition das männliche Tier verschiedener Vogelarten ohne Inhalt

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Hahn and hohl apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
Hahn
4 ch
hohl

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Hahn is [haːn] while hohl is [hoːl]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22327, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Hahn is recorded at frequency rank #4,046, classified as anoun, pronounced [haːn]. hohl is at rank #18,281, tagged as anadj, pronounced [hoːl].

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 22327, this pair ranks #1,875,508 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Hahn vs hohl

Shared letters: h. Private to "Hahn": an. Private to "hohl": lo.

"Hahn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "hohl" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Hahnahhn · hahhn · hahnn · hanh · hhahn · hhan
  • hohlhhohl · hhol · hohhl · hohll · holh · ohhl

Frequency comparison

Hahn#4,046
hohl#18,281

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Hahn" and "hohl" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Hahn" is a noun and "hohl" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Hahn" or "hohl"?
"Hahn" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,046 in our German list, against #18,281 for "hohl". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Hahn vs hohl

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Hahn”; for an adjective, it's “hohl”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Hahn” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list