HamstervsHäuserWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#21,638
“Hamster” frequency rank
#2,250
“Häuser” frequency rank
23888
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Hamster Häuser
Definition maus- (Zwerghamster) bis fast kaninchengroßes (Feldhamster), dämmerungsaktives Nagetier, mit dichtem Fell und kurzem bis stummelartigem Schwanz (Familie Cricetidae) Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Haus

Where the eye mixes Hamster and Häuser

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

7 ch
Hamster
6 ch
Häuser

Visual trap between Hamster and Häuser

A purely visual mix-up. Hamster ([ˈhamstɐ]) and Häuser ([ˈhɔɪ̯zɐ]) 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 23888, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Hamster is recorded at frequency rank #21,638, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhamstɐ]. Häuser is at rank #2,250, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɔɪ̯zɐ].

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 23888, this pair ranks #1,855,259 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Hamster vs Häuser

Shared letters: ehrs. Private to "Hamster": amt. Private to "Häuser": .

"Hamster" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "Häuser" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Hamsterahmster · hammster · hamsetr · hamsster · hamsterr · hamstre · hamstter · hamtser

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Hamster" for "Häuser" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhamstɐ] versus [ˈhɔɪ̯zɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Hamster" or "Häuser"?
"Häuser" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,250 in our German list, against #21,638 for "Hamster". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Hamster" and "Häuser" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Hamster" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Häuser" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,855,259 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Hamster" and "Häuser" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hamster vs Hasser". 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 #1,855,259 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