HenkervsHungerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#19,602
“Henker” frequency rank
#2,831
“Hunger” frequency rank
22433
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Henker Hunger
Definition jemand, der Hinrichtungen vollzieht Verlangen nach Essen

Where the eye mixes Henker and Hunger

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

6 ch
Henker
6 ch
Hunger

Why the eye confuses Henker with Hunger

A purely visual mix-up. Henker ([ˈhɛŋkɐ]) and Hunger ([ˈhʊŋɐ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22433, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Henker is recorded at frequency rank #19,602, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɛŋkɐ]. Hunger is at rank #2,831, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhʊŋɐ].

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 22433, this pair ranks #1,874,238 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Henker vs Hunger

Shared letters: ehnr. Private to "Henker": k. Private to "Hunger": gu.

"Henker" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Hunger" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Henker ← ehnker · hekner · henekr · henkerr · henkker · henkre · hennker · hhenker
  • Hunger ← hhunger · hnuger · hugner · hunegr · hungerr · hungger · hungre · hunnger

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Henker" and "Hunger" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhɛŋkɐ] versus [ˈhʊŋɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Henker" vs "Hunger" - which ranks higher?
"Hunger" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,831 in our German list, against #19,602 for "Henker". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Henker" and "Hunger" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Henker" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Hunger" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,874,238 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Henker" and "Hunger" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hemer vs Henker". 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 #1,874,238 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