Which to use
“halten” and “hörten” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #395
- “halten” frequency rank
- #11,457
- “hörten” frequency rank
- 11852
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | halten | hörten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | etwas durch Kraftausübung in Ruhe belassen oder bringen | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs hören |
Where the eye mixes halten and hörten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. halten and hörten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses halten with hörten
A purely visual mix-up. halten ([ˈhaltn̩]) and hörten ([ˈhøːɐ̯tn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11852, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
halten is recorded at frequency rank #395, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhaltn̩]. hörten is at rank #11,457, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhøːɐ̯tn̩].
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 11852, this pair ranks #1,967,556 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of halten vs hörten
Shared letters: ehnt. Private to "halten": al. Private to "hörten": rö.
"halten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "hörten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- halten ← ahlten · haletn · hallten · haltenn · haltne · haltten · hatlen · hhalten
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "halten" and "hörten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "halten" vs "hörten" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "halten" and "hörten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "halten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hörten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,967,556 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "halten" and "hörten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "harren vs hörten". 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 #1,967,556 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.