Which to use
“Harder” is a noun and “härtere” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #35,824
- “Harder” frequency rank
- #23,568
- “härtere” frequency rank
- 59392
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Harder | härtere |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ein Einwohner, Bewohner der Marktgemeinde Hard, eine in Hard geborene Person | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Komparativs des Adjektivs hart |
Where the eye mixes Harder and härtere
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Harder runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against härtere's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses Harder with härtere
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Harder is [ˈhaʁdɐ] while härtere is [ˈhɛʁtəʁə]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59392, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Harder is recorded at frequency rank #35,824, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhaʁdɐ]. härtere is at rank #23,568, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈhɛʁtəʁə].
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 59392, this pair ranks #826,214 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Harder vs härtere
Shared letters: ehr. Private to "Harder": ad. Private to "härtere": tä.
"Harder" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "härtere" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- Harder ← ahrder · hadrer · hardder · harderr · hardre · haredr · harrder · hharder
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Harder" for "härtere" ever safe?
Frequency check: "Harder" vs "härtere" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "Harder" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "härtere" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #826,214 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Harder" and "härtere" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Harder vs harren". 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 #826,214 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.