hakvshumTell them apart

Quick tell: hak is a verb, hum is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hak” is a verb and “hum” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,795
“hak” frequency rank
#47,488
“hum” frequency rank
86283
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hak hum
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs haken männliches Personalpronomen der dritten Person Singular im Objektiv(≘ Dativ und Akkusativ): ihm, ihn

Letter map: hak vs hum

Shared letters muted; letters that set hak and hum apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. hak and hum follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

3 ch
hak
3 ch
hum

Part-of-speech tell for hak / hum

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: hak is averb and humapronoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86283, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hak is recorded at frequency rank #38,795, classified as averb, pronounced [haːk]. hum is at rank #47,488, tagged as apron, pronounced […].

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 86283, this pair ranks #95,980 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hak vs hum

Shared letters: h. Private to "hak": ak. Private to "hum": mu.

"hak" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "hum" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hak" and "hum" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hak" is a verb and "hum" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "hak" vs "hum" - which ranks higher?
"hak" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,795 in our German list, against #47,488 for "hum". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "hak" and "hum".

  • Full dictionary entry for "hak" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hum" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #95,980 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hak" and "hum" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hum vs puzzles". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #95,980 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