Which to use
“hartes” is an adjective and “hatte” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,731
- “hartes” frequency rank
- #91
- “hatte” frequency rank
- 12822
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hartes | hatte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs hart | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs haben |
Where the eye mixes hartes and hatte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. hartes 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.
Look-alike desk: hartes vs hatte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hartes is [ˈhaʁtəs] 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 12822, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hartes is recorded at frequency rank #12,731, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈhaʁtəs]. 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 12822, this pair ranks #1,961,844 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of hartes vs hatte
Shared letters: aeht. Private to "hartes": rs. Private to "hatte": -.
"hartes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "hatte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hartes" and "hatte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "hartes" vs "hatte" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "hartes" and "hatte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hartes" 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 #1,961,844 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hartes" and "hatte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "harren vs hartes". 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 #1,961,844 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.