Which to use
“harter” is an adjective and “hatte” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,928
- “harter” frequency rank
- #91
- “hatte” frequency rank
- 8019
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | harter | hatte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs hart | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs haben |
Where the eye mixes harter and hatte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: harter vs hatte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: harter is [ˈhaʁtɐ] while hatte is [ˈhatə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8019, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
harter is recorded at frequency rank #7,928, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈhaʁtɐ]. 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 8019, this pair ranks #1,985,936 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of harter vs hatte
Shared letters: aeht. Private to "harter": r. Private to "hatte": -.
"harter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "hatte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "harter" and "hatte" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "harter" vs "hatte" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "harter" 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 #1,985,936 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "harter" and "hatte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "harren vs harter". 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 #1,985,936 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.