Which to use
“hatten” and “hattest” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #278
- “hatten” frequency rank
- #4,354
- “hattest” frequency rank
- 4632
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hatten | hattest |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum des Verbs haben | 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs haben |
Where the eye mixes hatten and hattest
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. hatten runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against hattest's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between hatten and hattest
A purely visual mix-up. hatten ([ˈhatn̩]) and hattest ([ˈhatəst]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4632, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hatten is recorded at frequency rank #278, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhatn̩]. hattest is at rank #4,354, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhatəst].
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 4632, this pair ranks #1,997,154 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of hatten vs hattest
Shared letters: aeht. Private to "hatten": n. Private to "hattest": s.
"hatten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "hattest" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hatten" and "hattest" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "hatten" or "hattest" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "hatten" and "hattest" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hatten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hattest" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,997,154 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hatten" and "hattest" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "harren vs hatten". 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 #1,997,154 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.