Which to use
“hartem” is an adjective and “härten” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,108
- “hartem” frequency rank
- #47,493
- “härten” frequency rank
- 77601
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hartem | härten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs hart | transitiv: |
Where the eye mixes hartem and härten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. hartem and härten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: hartem vs härten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hartem is [ˈhaʁtəm] while härten is [ˈhɛʁtn̩]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77601, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hartem is recorded at frequency rank #30,108, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈhaʁtəm]. härten is at rank #47,493, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhɛʁtn̩].
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 77601, this pair ranks #257,175 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of hartem vs härten
Shared letters: ehrt. Private to "hartem": am. Private to "härten": nä.
"hartem" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "härten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- hartem ← ahrtem · haretm · harrtem · hartemm · hartme · harttem · hatrem · hhartem
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hartem" and "härten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "hartem" or "härten" 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 "hartem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "härten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #257,175 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hartem" and "härten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "harren vs härten". 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 #257,175 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.