haltenvsHändenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#395
“halten” frequency rank
#2,249
“Händen” frequency rank
2644
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature halten Händen
Definition etwas durch Kraftausübung in Ruhe belassen oder bringen Dativ Plural des Substantivs Hand

Where the eye mixes halten and Händen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
halten
6 ch
Händen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: halten is [ˈhaltn̩] while Händen is [ˈhɛndn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2644, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

halten is recorded at frequency rank #395, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhaltn̩]. Händen is at rank #2,249, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɛndn̩].

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 2644, this pair ranks #2,001,896 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of halten vs Händen

Shared letters: ehn. Private to "halten": alt. Private to "Händen": .

"halten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Händen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • haltenahlten · haletn · hallten · haltenn · haltne · haltten · hatlen · hhalten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "halten" and "Händen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "halten" is a verb and "Händen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "halten" or "Händen"?
"halten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #395 in our German list, against #2,249 for "Händen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list