HähnevsHenneWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#49,790
“Hähne” frequency rank
#21,286
“Henne” frequency rank
71076
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Hähne Henne
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Hahn weiblicher Vogel (insbesondere bei Hühnern)

Same sound, different letters: Hähne vs Henne

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters. Hähne and Henne follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
Hähne
5 ch
Henne

Homophone desk: Hähne vs Henne

This is the hard kind. Hähne and Henne are pronounced identically ([ˈhɛːnə]) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71076, 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]. Henne is at rank #21,286, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɛnə].

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 71076, this pair ranks #427,485 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Hähne vs Henne

Shared letters: ehn. Private to "Hähne": ä. Private to "Henne": -.

"Hähne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Henne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Henne ← ehnne · hene · henen · hhenne · hnene

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Hähne" and "Henne" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are pronounced the same ([ˈhɛːnə]), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
In ordinary German text, does "Hähne" or "Henne" show up more?
"Henne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,286 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

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Hähne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Henne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #427,485 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Hähne" and "Henne" 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 #427,485 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