harvsheartWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: har is a adverb, heart is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“har” is an adverb and “heart” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,383
“har” frequency rank
#12,300
“heart” frequency rank
48683
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature har heart
Definition dort Herz, Herzhälfte

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set har and heart apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
har
5 ch
heart

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: har is [hɛaɹ] while heart is [hɑːt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48683, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

har is recorded at frequency rank #36,383, classified as anadv, pronounced [hɛaɹ]. heart is at rank #12,300, tagged as anoun, pronounced [hɑːt].

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 48683, this pair ranks #1,239,499 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of har vs heart

Shared letters: ahr. Private to "har": -. Private to "heart": et.

"har" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "heart" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • heartehart · haert · hearrt · heartt · heatr · herat · hheart

Frequency comparison

har#36,383
heart#12,300

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "har" and "heart" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "har" is an adverb and "heart" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "har" or "heart"?
"heart" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,300 in our German list, against #36,383 for "har". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering har vs heart

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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