Which to use
“halten” and “haltend” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #395
- “halten” frequency rank
- #46,719
- “haltend” frequency rank
- 47114
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | halten | haltend |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | etwas durch Kraftausübung in Ruhe belassen oder bringen | Partizip Präsens des Verbs halten |
Where the eye mixes halten and haltend
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. halten runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against haltend's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses halten with haltend
A purely visual mix-up. halten ([ˈhaltn̩]) and haltend ([ˈhaltn̩t]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “halten” sits inside “haltend”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47114, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
halten is recorded at frequency rank #395, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhaltn̩]. haltend is at rank #46,719, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhaltn̩t].
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 47114, this pair ranks #1,295,693 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of halten vs haltend
Shared letters: aehlnt. Private to "halten": -. Private to "haltend": d.
"halten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "haltend" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "halten" and "haltend" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "halten" or "haltend" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "halten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "haltend" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,295,693 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "halten" and "haltend" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "haltend vs Häuten". 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 #1,295,693 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.