hassenvshissenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#4,617
“hassen” frequency rank
#43,966
“hissen” frequency rank
48583
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hassen hissen
Definition feindselige Gefühle gegen jemanden, etwas hegen eine Flagge oder ein Segel am Mast nach oben ziehen

Where the eye mixes hassen and hissen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. hassen and hissen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
hassen
6 ch
hissen

Visual trap between hassen and hissen

A purely visual mix-up. hassen ([ˈhasn̩]) and hissen ([ˈhɪsn̩]) 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 a single letter - a in “hassen” becomes i in “hissen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48583, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hassen is recorded at frequency rank #4,617, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhasn̩]. hissen is at rank #43,966, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhɪsn̩].

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 48583, this pair ranks #1,243,141 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hassen vs hissen

Shared letters: ehns. Private to "hassen": a. Private to "hissen": i.

"hassen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "hissen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hassenahssen · hasesn · hassenn · hassne · haßen · hhassen · hsasen
  • hissenhhissen · hisen · hisesn · hissenn · hissne · hißen · hsisen · ihssen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "hassen" and "hissen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhasn̩] versus [ˈhɪsn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "hassen" or "hissen"?
"hassen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,617 in our German list, against #43,966 for "hissen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "hassen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hissen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,243,141 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hassen" and "hissen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hasser vs hissen". 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 #1,243,141 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list