hemmenvsHennenTell them apart

Quick tell: hemmen is a verb, Hennen is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hemmen” is a verb and “Hennen” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,161
“hemmen” frequency rank
#39,416
“Hennen” frequency rank
73577
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hemmen Hennen
Definition etwas hindern Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Henne

Where the eye mixes hemmen and Hennen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. hemmen and Hennen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
hemmen
6 ch
Hennen

Visual trap between hemmen and Hennen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hemmen is [ˈhɛmən] while Hennen is [ˈhɛnən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73577, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hemmen is recorded at frequency rank #34,161, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhɛmən]. Hennen is at rank #39,416, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɛnən].

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 73577, this pair ranks #356,598 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hemmen vs Hennen

Shared letters: ehn. Private to "hemmen": m. Private to "Hennen": -.

"hemmen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Hennen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hemmen ← ehmmen · hememn · hemen · hemmenn · hemmne · hhemmen · hmemen
  • Hennen ← ehnnen · henenn · hennenn · hennne · hhennen · hnenen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hemmen" and "Hennen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hemmen" is a verb and "Hennen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "hemmen" vs "Hennen" - which ranks higher?
"hemmen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,161 in our German list, against #39,416 for "Hennen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hemmen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Hennen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #356,598 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hemmen" and "Hennen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hemer vs hemmen". 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 #356,598 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