hannvsharmWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#26,445
“hann” frequency rank
#46,723
“harm” frequency rank
73168
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hann harm
Definition Personalpronomen der 3. Person Maskulinum Singular im Nominativ: er körperlicher oder geistiger Schaden

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
hann
4 ch
harm

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: hann is apronoun and harmanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73168, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hann is recorded at frequency rank #26,445, classified as apron, pronounced [hanː]. harm is at rank #46,723, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 73168, this pair ranks #367,864 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hann vs harm

Shared letters: ah. Private to "hann": n. Private to "harm": mr.

"hann" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "harm" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hannahnn · han · hhann · hnan
  • harmahrm · hamr · harmm · harrm · hharm · hram

Frequency comparison

hann#26,445
harm#46,723

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hann" and "harm" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hann" is a pronoun and "harm" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hann" or "harm"?
"hann" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,445 in our German list, against #46,723 for "harm". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering hann vs harm

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a pronoun, it's “hann”; for a noun, it's “harm”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “hann” 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