hardyvsHerdeConfusable pair

Quick tell: hardy is a adjective, Herde is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hardy” is an adjective and “Herde” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,729
“hardy” frequency rank
#12,505
“Herde” frequency rank
29234
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hardy Herde
Definition abgehärtet, widerstandsfähig, ausdauernd Gruppe von meist größeren Säugetieren der gleichen Art, die im losen oder sozialisierten Verband (mit Ausbildung einer Rangordnung) leben; Gruppen von flugunfähigen Vögeln und Gruppen verschiedener Arten kommen ebenfalls in Herden vor

Where the eye mixes hardy and Herde

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

5 ch
hardy
5 ch
Herde

Visual trap between hardy and Herde

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hardy is [ˈhɑːdɪ] while Herde is [ˈheːɐ̯də]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29234, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hardy is recorded at frequency rank #16,729, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈhɑːdɪ]. Herde is at rank #12,505, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈheːɐ̯də].

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 29234, this pair ranks #1,770,612 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hardy vs Herde

Shared letters: dhr. Private to "hardy": ay. Private to "Herde": e.

"hardy" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Herde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hardyahrdy · hadry · harddy · hardyy · harrdy · haryd · hhardy · hrady
  • Herdeehrde · hedre · herdde · hered · herrde · hherde · hrede

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "hardy" and "Herde" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hardy" is an adjective and "Herde" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hardy" or "Herde"?
"Herde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,505 in our German list, against #16,729 for "hardy". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "hardy" and "Herde" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hardy" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Herde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,770,612 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hardy" and "Herde" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hardi vs hardy". 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 #1,770,612 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