HämevsHarmsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“Häme” and “Harms” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#30,120
“Häme” frequency rank
#31,599
“Harms” frequency rank
61719
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Häme Harms
Definition Spott mit starkem Anteil an Schadenfreude; zynische Polemik Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Harm

Where the eye mixes Häme and Harms

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Häme runs 4 letters (CVCV) against Harms's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Häme
5 ch
Harms

Why the eye confuses Häme with Harms

A purely visual mix-up. Häme ([ˈhɛːmə]) and Harms ([haʁms]) 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 61719, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Häme is recorded at frequency rank #30,120, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɛːmə]. Harms is at rank #31,599, tagged as anoun, pronounced [haʁms].

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 61719, this pair ranks #739,164 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Häme vs Harms

Shared letters: hm. Private to "Häme": eä. Private to "Harms": ars.

"Häme" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Harms" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Harms ← ahrms · hamrs · harmms · harmss · harrms · harsm · hharms · hrams

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Häme" and "Harms" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhɛːmə] versus [haʁms]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Häme" or "Harms"?
"Häme" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,120 in our German list, against #31,599 for "Harms". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Häme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Harms" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #739,164 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Häme" and "Harms" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hardi vs Harms". 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 #739,164 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