Which to use
“hen” and “Henne” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,162
- “hen” frequency rank
- #21,286
- “Henne” frequency rank
- 55448
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hen | Henne |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | die Henne, ein weiblicher Vogel | weiblicher Vogel (insbesondere bei Hühnern) |
Where the eye mixes hen and Henne
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. hen runs 3 letters (CVC) against Henne's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses hen with Henne
A purely visual mix-up. hen ([hɛn]) and Henne ([ˈhɛnə]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “hen” sits inside “Henne”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55448, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hen is recorded at frequency rank #34,162, classified as anoun, pronounced [hɛn]. Henne is at rank #21,286, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɛnə].
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 55448, this pair ranks #979,138 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hen vs Henne
Shared letters: ehn. Private to "hen": -. Private to "Henne": -.
"hen" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "Henne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- Henne ← ehnne · hene · henen · hhenne · hnene
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hen" for "Henne" ever safe?
Frequency check: "hen" vs "Henne" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "hen" and "Henne" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Henne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #979,138 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hen" and "Henne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "heel vs hen". 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 #979,138 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.