HändevshannWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Hände is a noun, hann is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Hände” is a noun and “hann” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,453
“Hände” frequency rank
#26,445
“hann” frequency rank
27898
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Hände hann
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Hand Personalpronomen der 3. Person Maskulinum Singular im Nominativ: er

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Hände and hann apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
Hände
4 ch
hann

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Hände is [ˈhɛndə] while hann is [hanː]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27898, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Hände is recorded at frequency rank #1,453, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɛndə]. hann is at rank #26,445, tagged as apron, pronounced [hanː].

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 27898, this pair ranks #1,793,975 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Hände vs hann

Shared letters: hn. Private to "Hände": deä. Private to "hann": a.

"Hände" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "hann" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hannahnn · han · hhann · hnan

Frequency comparison

Hände#1,453
hann#26,445

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Hände" and "hann" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Hände" is a noun and "hann" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Hände" or "hann"?
"Hände" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,453 in our German list, against #26,445 for "hann". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering Hände vs hann

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Hände”; for a pronoun, it's “hann”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Hände” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list