Which to use
“harren” and “hören” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,956
- “harren” frequency rank
- #702
- “hören” frequency rank
- 49658
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | harren | hören |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | (hoffend) auf etwas oder jemanden warten | mit den Ohren |
Where the eye mixes harren and hören
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. harren runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against hören's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: harren vs hören
A purely visual mix-up. harren ([ˈhaʁən]) and hören ([ˈhøːʁən]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49658, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
harren is recorded at frequency rank #48,956, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhaʁən]. hören is at rank #702, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhøːʁən].
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 49658, this pair ranks #1,203,123 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of harren vs hören
Shared letters: ehnr. Private to "harren": a. Private to "hören": ö.
"harren" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "hören" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- harren ← ahrren · harern · harrenn · harrne · hharren · hraren
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "harren" for "hören" ever safe?
Frequency check: "harren" vs "hören" - which ranks higher?
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 "harren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hören" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,203,123 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "harren" and "hören" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "harren vs Häuten". 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 #1,203,123 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.