Which to use
“harren” and “hörten” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,956
- “harren” frequency rank
- #11,457
- “hörten” frequency rank
- 60413
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | harren | hörten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | (hoffend) auf etwas oder jemanden warten | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs hören |
Where the eye mixes harren and hörten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. harren and hörten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses harren with hörten
A purely visual mix-up. harren ([ˈhaʁən]) and hörten ([ˈhøːɐ̯tn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60413, 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]. hörten is at rank #11,457, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhøːɐ̯tn̩].
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 60413, this pair ranks #787,951 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of harren vs hörten
Shared letters: ehnr. Private to "harren": a. Private to "hörten": tö.
"harren" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "hörten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- harren ← ahrren · harern · harrenn · harrne · hharren · hraren
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "harren" and "hörten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "harren" or "hörten" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "harren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hörten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #787,951 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "harren" and "hörten" 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 #787,951 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.