HaufevsHäuserWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#35,224
“Haufe” frequency rank
#2,250
“Häuser” frequency rank
37474
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Haufe Häuser
Definition an einer Stelle ungeordnet übereinander geworfene Dinge, die so einen kleinen Hügel bilden Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Haus

Where the eye mixes Haufe and Häuser

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Haufe runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against Häuser's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Haufe
6 ch
Häuser

Why the eye confuses Haufe with Häuser

A purely visual mix-up. Haufe ([ˈhaʊ̯fə]) and Häuser ([ˈhɔɪ̯zɐ]) 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 37474, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Haufe is recorded at frequency rank #35,224, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhaʊ̯fə]. Häuser is at rank #2,250, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɔɪ̯zɐ].

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 37474, this pair ranks #1,589,275 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Haufe vs Häuser

Shared letters: ehu. Private to "Haufe": af. Private to "Häuser": rsä.

"Haufe" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "Häuser" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Haufe ← ahufe · hafue · hauef · hauffe · hhaufe · huafe

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Haufe" for "Häuser" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhaʊ̯fə] versus [ˈhɔɪ̯zɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Haufe" or "Häuser"?
"Häuser" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,250 in our German list, against #35,224 for "Haufe". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Haufe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Häuser" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,589,275 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Haufe" and "Häuser" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hähne vs Haufe". 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 #1,589,275 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