Which to use
“halten” and “hatte” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #395
- “halten” frequency rank
- #91
- “hatte” frequency rank
- 486
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | halten | hatte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | etwas durch Kraftausübung in Ruhe belassen oder bringen | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs haben |
Where the eye mixes halten and hatte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. halten ([ˈhaltn̩]) and hatte ([ˈhatə]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 486, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
halten is recorded at frequency rank #395, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhaltn̩]. hatte is at rank #91, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhatə].
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 486, this pair ranks #2,005,784 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of halten vs hatte
Shared letters: aeht. Private to "halten": ln. Private to "hatte": -.
"halten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "hatte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV