hamavshauConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#44,666
“hama” frequency rank
#7,064
“hau” frequency rank
51730
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hama hau
Definition Eimer, Schüssel 2. Person Singular Präsens Imperativ Aktiv des Verbs hauen

Letter map: hama vs hau

Shared letters muted; letters that set hama and hau apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
hama
3 ch
hau

Grammar separator: hama vs hau

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: hama is anoun and hauaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51730, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hama is recorded at frequency rank #44,666, classified as anoun. hau is at rank #7,064, tagged as averb, pronounced [haʊ̯].

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 51730, this pair ranks #1,124,250 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hama vs hau

Shared letters: ah. Private to "hama": m. Private to "hau": u.

"hama" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "hau" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hamaahma · haam · hamma · hhama · hmaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hama" and "hau" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hama" is a noun and "hau" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "hama" vs "hau" - which ranks higher?
"hau" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,064 in our German list, against #44,666 for "hama". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "hama" vs "hau" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hama" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,124,250 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hama" and "hau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hama vs haze". 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 #1,124,250 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