Which to use
“hard” is an adjective and “Hürde” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,386
- “hard” frequency rank
- #9,739
- “Hürde” frequency rank
- 18125
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hard | Hürde |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | hart, fest | 76,20 bis 106,68 cm hohes Hindernis, das in bestimmten Abständen (ungefähr 8,50 bis 35 m) auf der Laufstrecke steht und vom Läufer überwunden werden muss, ohne dass es umfällt |
Where the eye mixes hard and Hürde
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: hard vs Hürde
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hard is [hɑː(ɹ)d] while Hürde is [ˈhʏʁdə]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18125, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hard is recorded at frequency rank #8,386, classified as anadj, pronounced [hɑː(ɹ)d]. Hürde is at rank #9,739, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhʏʁdə].
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 18125, this pair ranks #1,921,163 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of hard vs Hürde
Shared letters: dhr. Private to "hard": a. Private to "Hürde": eü.
"hard" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "Hürde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- hard ← ahrd · hadr · hardd · harrd · hhard · hrad
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hard" for "Hürde" ever safe?
Which is more common, "hard" or "Hürde"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "hard" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Hürde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,921,163 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hard" and "Hürde" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hardi vs Hürde". 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 #1,921,163 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.