HansvsHausWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#953
“Hans” frequency rank
#346
“Haus” frequency rank
1299
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Hans Haus
Definition Person männlichen Geschlechts zu einem bestimmten Zweck erbautes Gebäude

Where the eye mixes Hans and Haus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Hans
4 ch
Haus

Look-alike desk: Hans vs Haus

A purely visual mix-up. Hans ([hans]) and Haus ([haʊ̯s]) 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 a single letter - n in “Hans” becomes u in “Haus”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1299, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Hans is recorded at frequency rank #953, classified as anoun, pronounced [hans]. Haus is at rank #346, tagged as anoun, pronounced [haʊ̯s].

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 1299, this pair ranks #2,004,592 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Hans vs Haus

Shared letters: ahs. Private to "Hans": n. Private to "Haus": u.

"Hans" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Haus" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Hansahns · hanss · hasn · hhans · hnas
  • Hausahus · hasu · hauss · hhaus · huas

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Hans" and "Haus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([hans] versus [haʊ̯s]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Hans" or "Haus"?
"Haus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #346 in our German list, against #953 for "Hans". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Hans" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Haus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,004,592 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Hans" and "Haus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hähne vs Hans". 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 #2,004,592 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