Which to use
“hartes” is an adjective and “hatten” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,731
- “hartes” frequency rank
- #278
- “hatten” frequency rank
- 13009
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hartes | hatten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs hart | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum des Verbs haben |
Where the eye mixes hartes and hatten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. hartes and hatten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between hartes and hatten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hartes is [ˈhaʁtəs] while hatten is [ˈhatn̩]. 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 13009, 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]. hatten is at rank #278, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhatn̩].
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 13009, this pair ranks #1,960,680 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of hartes vs hatten
Shared letters: aeht. Private to "hartes": rs. Private to "hatten": n.
"hartes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "hatten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hartes" and "hatten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "hartes" or "hatten" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "hartes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hatten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,960,680 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hartes" and "hatten" 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 #1,960,680 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.