HajovshardWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Hajo is a name, hard is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Hajo” is a name and “hard” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,664
“Hajo” frequency rank
#8,386
“hard” frequency rank
53050
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Hajo hard
Definition männlicher Vorname hart, fest

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
Hajo
4 ch
hard

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Hajo is [ˈhaːjo] while hard is [hɑː(ɹ)d]. 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 (name vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53050, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Hajo is recorded at frequency rank #44,664, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈhaːjo]. hard is at rank #8,386, tagged as anadj, pronounced [hɑː(ɹ)d].

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 53050, this pair ranks #1,073,040 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Hajo vs hard

Shared letters: ah. Private to "Hajo": jo. Private to "hard": dr.

"Hajo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "hard" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Hajoahjo · hajjo · haoj · hhajo · hjao
  • hardahrd · hadr · hardd · harrd · hhard · hrad

Frequency comparison

Hajo#44,664
hard#8,386

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Hajo" and "hard" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Hajo" is a name and "hard" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Hajo" or "hard"?
"hard" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,386 in our German list, against #44,664 for "Hajo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Hajo vs hard

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a name, it's “Hajo”; for an adjective, it's “hard”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Hajo” 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