haktvshayTell them apart

Quick tell: hakt is a verb, hay is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hakt” is a verb and “hay” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,583
“hakt” frequency rank
#32,588
“hay” frequency rank
65171
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hakt hay
Definition 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs haken Tierfutter; Heu

Where the eye mixes hakt and hay

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
hakt
3 ch
hay

Visual trap between hakt and hay

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hakt is [haːkt] while hay is [heɪ]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65171, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hakt is recorded at frequency rank #32,583, classified as averb, pronounced [haːkt]. hay is at rank #32,588, tagged as anoun, pronounced [heɪ].

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 65171, this pair ranks #616,112 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hakt vs hay

Shared letters: ah. Private to "hakt": kt. Private to "hay": y.

"hakt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "hay" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • haktahkt · hakkt · haktt · hatk · hhakt · hkat

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "hakt" for "hay" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hakt" is a verb and "hay" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hakt" or "hay"?
"hakt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,583 in our German list, against #32,588 for "hay". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "hakt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hay" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #616,112 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hakt" and "hay" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hay 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 #616,112 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