Which to use
“haste” and “hatte” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,562
- “haste” frequency rank
- #91
- “hatte” frequency rank
- 9653
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | haste | hatte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs hasten | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs haben |
Where the eye mixes haste and hatte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between haste and hatte
A purely visual mix-up. haste ([ˈhastə]) 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 a single letter - s in “haste” becomes t in “hatte”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9653, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
haste is recorded at frequency rank #9,562, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhastə]. 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 9653, this pair ranks #1,978,937 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of haste vs hatte
Shared letters: aeht. Private to "haste": s. Private to "hatte": -.
"haste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "hatte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "haste" and "hatte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "haste" or "hatte" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "haste" and "hatte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "haste" 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 #1,978,937 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "haste" and "hatte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hähne vs haste". 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 #1,978,937 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.