halevsHälfteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#35,821
“hale” frequency rank
#905
“Hälfte” frequency rank
36726
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hale Hälfte
Definition Dativ Singular des Substantivs hala einer von zwei gleich großen Anteilen

Where the eye mixes hale and Hälfte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. hale runs 4 letters (CVCV) against Hälfte's 6 (CVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
hale
6 ch
Hälfte

Visual trap between hale and Hälfte

A purely visual mix-up. hale ([ˈɦalɛ]) and Hälfte ([ˈhɛlftə]) 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 36726, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hale is recorded at frequency rank #35,821, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈɦalɛ]. Hälfte is at rank #905, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɛlftə].

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 36726, this pair ranks #1,608,256 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hale vs Hälfte

Shared letters: ehl. Private to "hale": a. Private to "Hälfte": ftä.

"hale" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Hälfte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hale ← ahle · hael · hhale · hlae

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "hale" and "Hälfte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈɦalɛ] versus [ˈhɛlftə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "hale" vs "Hälfte" - which ranks higher?
"Hälfte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #905 in our German list, against #35,821 for "hale". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "hale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Hälfte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,608,256 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hale" and "Hälfte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hähne vs hale". 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 #1,608,256 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