HähnevshannTell them apart

Quick tell: Hähne is a noun, hann is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Hähne” is a noun and “hann” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,790
“Hähne” frequency rank
#26,445
“hann” frequency rank
76235
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Hähne hann
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Hahn Personalpronomen der 3. Person Maskulinum Singular im Nominativ: er

Where the eye mixes Hähne and hann

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Hähne runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against hann's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Hähne
4 ch
hann

Visual trap between Hähne and hann

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Hähne is [ˈhɛːnə] while hann is [hanː]. 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 (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76235, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Hähne is recorded at frequency rank #49,790, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɛːnə]. hann is at rank #26,445, tagged as apron, pronounced [hanː].

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 76235, this pair ranks #288,699 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Hähne vs hann

Shared letters: hn. Private to "Hähne": eä. Private to "hann": a.

"Hähne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "hann" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hann ← ahnn · han · hhann · hnan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Hähne" for "hann" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Hähne" is a noun and "hann" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Hähne" or "hann" show up more?
"hann" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,445 in our German list, against #49,790 for "Hähne". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Hähne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hann" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #288,699 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Hähne" and "hann" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hähne vs haze". 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 #288,699 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