harmvshärteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: harm is a noun, härte is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“harm” is a noun and “härte” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,723
“harm” frequency rank
#9,738
“härte” frequency rank
56461
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature harm härte
Definition körperlicher oder geistiger Schaden 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs härten

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set harm and härte apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
harm
5 ch
härte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: harm is anoun and härteaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56461, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

harm is recorded at frequency rank #46,723, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. härte is at rank #9,738, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhɛʁtə].

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 56461, this pair ranks #939,291 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of harm vs härte

Shared letters: hr. Private to "harm": am. Private to "härte": etä.

"harm" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "härte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • harmahrm · hamr · harmm · harrm · hharm · hram

Frequency comparison

harm#46,723
härte#9,738

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "harm" and "härte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "harm" is a noun and "härte" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "harm" or "härte"?
"härte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,738 in our German list, against #46,723 for "harm". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering harm vs härte

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “harm”; for a verb, it's “härte”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “harm” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list