HäutenvsHufenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#48,238
“Häuten” frequency rank
#32,599
“Hufen” frequency rank
80837
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Häuten Hufen
Definition Tötung durch Entfernen der Haut Dativ Plural des Substantivs Huf

Where the eye mixes Häuten and Hufen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Häuten runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against Hufen's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Häuten
5 ch
Hufen

Look-alike desk: Häuten vs Hufen

A purely visual mix-up. Häuten ([ˈhɔɪ̯tn̩]) and Hufen ([ˈhuːfn̩]) 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 80837, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Häuten is recorded at frequency rank #48,238, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɔɪ̯tn̩]. Hufen is at rank #32,599, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhuːfn̩].

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 80837, this pair ranks #187,477 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Häuten vs Hufen

Shared letters: ehnu. Private to "Häuten": tä. Private to "Hufen": f.

"Häuten" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "Hufen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Hufen ← hfuen · hhufen · huefn · hufenn · huffen · hufne · uhfen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Häuten" for "Hufen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhɔɪ̯tn̩] versus [ˈhuːfn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Häuten" vs "Hufen" - which ranks higher?
"Hufen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,599 in our German list, against #48,238 for "Häuten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Häuten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Hufen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #187,477 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Häuten" and "Hufen" 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 #187,477 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