HausvsHeuWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#346
“Haus” frequency rank
#17,327
“Heu” frequency rank
17673
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Haus Heu
Definition zu einem bestimmten Zweck erbautes Gebäude getrocknetes Gras; in der Sprache der Landwirtschaft insbesondere der erste Grasschnitt

Where the eye mixes Haus and Heu

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Haus
3 ch
Heu

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. Haus ([haʊ̯s]) and Heu ([hɔɪ̯]) 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 17673, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Haus is recorded at frequency rank #346, classified as anoun, pronounced [haʊ̯s]. Heu is at rank #17,327, tagged as anoun, pronounced [hɔɪ̯].

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 17673, this pair ranks #1,925,302 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Haus vs Heu

Shared letters: hu. Private to "Haus": as. Private to "Heu": e.

"Haus" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "Heu" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Hausahus · hasu · hauss · hhaus · huas

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Haus" and "Heu" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([haʊ̯s] versus [hɔɪ̯]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Haus" or "Heu"?
"Haus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #346 in our German list, against #17,327 for "Heu". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list