henvshomConfusable pair

Quick tell: hen is a noun, hom is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hen” is a noun and “hom” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,162
“hen” frequency rank
#43,252
“hom” frequency rank
77414
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hen hom
Definition die Henne, ein weiblicher Vogel die Leute, irgendwelche Leute

Letter map: hen vs hom

Shared letters muted; letters that set hen and hom apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. hen and hom follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

3 ch
hen
3 ch
hom

Role in the sentence - hen and hom

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: hen is anoun and homapronoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77414, 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]. hom is at rank #43,252, tagged as apron, pronounced […].

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 77414, this pair ranks #261,207 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hen vs hom

Shared letters: h. Private to "hen": en. Private to "hom": mo.

"hen" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "hom" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "hen" and "hom" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hen" is a noun and "hom" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hen" or "hom"?
"hen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,162 in our German list, against #43,252 for "hom". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "hen" vs "hom" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hom" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #261,207 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hen" and "hom" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hom vs puzzles". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #261,207 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