härten vs hatte, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“härten” and “hatte” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#47,493
“härten” frequency rank: #91
“hatte” frequency rank: 47584
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	härten	hatte
Definition	transitiv:	1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs haben

Where the eye mixes härten and hatte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. härten runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against hatte's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch

härten

5 ch

hatte

Why the eye confuses härten with hatte

A purely visual mix-up. härten ([ˈhɛʁtn̩]) and hatte ([ˈhatə]) 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 47584, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

härten is recorded at frequency rank #47,493, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhɛʁtn̩]. hatte is at rank #91, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhatə].

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 47584, this pair ranks #1,279,216 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of härten vs hatte

Shared letters: eht. Private to "härten": nrä. Private to "hatte": a.

"härten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "hatte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

hatte ← ahtte · hate · hatet · hhatte · htate

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "härten" and "hatte" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No. They are said differently ([ˈhɛʁtn̩] versus [ˈhatə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

In ordinary German text, does "härten" or "hatte" show up more?

"hatte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #91 in our German list, against #47,493 for "härten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

Full dictionary entry for "härten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "hatte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #1,279,216 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"härten" and "hatte" 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 #1,279,216 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.