Which to use
“hatte” is a verb and “Häuten” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #91
- “hatte” frequency rank
- #48,238
- “Häuten” frequency rank
- 48329
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hatte | Häuten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs haben | Tötung durch Entfernen der Haut |
Where the eye mixes hatte and Häuten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. hatte runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against Häuten's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses hatte with Häuten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hatte is [ˈhatə] while Häuten is [ˈhɔɪ̯tn̩]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48329, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hatte is recorded at frequency rank #91, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhatə]. Häuten is at rank #48,238, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɔɪ̯tn̩].
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 48329, this pair ranks #1,252,546 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hatte vs Häuten
Shared letters: eht. Private to "hatte": a. Private to "Häuten": nuä.
"hatte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "Häuten" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- hatte ← ahtte · hate · hatet · hhatte · htate
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "hatte" and "Häuten" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "hatte" or "Häuten" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "hatte" and "Häuten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hatte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Häuten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,252,546 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hatte" and "Häuten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "harren vs Häuten". 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 #1,252,546 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.