HäkchenvsHakenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#35,842
“Häkchen” frequency rank
#6,803
“Haken” frequency rank
42645
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Häkchen Haken
Definition kleiner oder winziger Haken geschwungen oder eckig gekrümmte Vorrichtung zum Aufhängen oder Einhaken von Objekten, meist aus Metall, Holz oder Kunststoff geformt

Where the eye mixes Häkchen and Haken

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Häkchen runs 7 letters (CVCCCVC) against Haken's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
Häkchen
5 ch
Haken

Look-alike desk: Häkchen vs Haken

A purely visual mix-up. Häkchen ([ˈhɛːkçən]) and Haken ([ˈhaːkn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42645, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Häkchen is recorded at frequency rank #35,842, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɛːkçən]. Haken is at rank #6,803, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhaːkn̩].

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 42645, this pair ranks #1,442,976 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Häkchen vs Haken

Shared letters: ehkn. Private to "Häkchen": cä. Private to "Haken": a.

"Häkchen" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "Haken" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Haken ← ahken · haekn · hakenn · hakken · hakne · hhaken · hkaen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Häkchen" for "Haken" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhɛːkçən] versus [ˈhaːkn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Häkchen" vs "Haken" - which ranks higher?
"Haken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,803 in our German list, against #35,842 for "Häkchen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Häkchen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Haken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,442,976 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Häkchen" and "Haken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Häkchen vs Häufchen". 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 #1,442,976 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