hervsHörerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: her is a adverb, Hörer is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“her” is an adverb and “Hörer” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#477
“her” frequency rank
#11,260
“Hörer” frequency rank
11737
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature her Hörer
Definition Bewegung in Richtung des Sprechenden von einem entfernteren Ort aus Person, die einem Radioprogramm oder sonstigen Sprechern zuhört

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set her and Hörer apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
her
5 ch
Hörer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: her is [heːɐ̯] while Hörer is [ˈhøːʁɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11737, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

her is recorded at frequency rank #477, classified as anadv, pronounced [heːɐ̯]. Hörer is at rank #11,260, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhøːʁɐ].

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 11737, this pair ranks #1,968,203 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of her vs Hörer

Shared letters: ehr. Private to "her": -. Private to "Hörer": ö.

"her" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Hörer" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Frequency comparison

her#477
Hörer#11,260

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "her" and "Hörer" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "her" is an adverb and "Hörer" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "her" or "Hörer"?
"her" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #477 in our German list, against #11,260 for "Hörer". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering her vs Hörer

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adverb, it's “her”; for a noun, it's “Hörer”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “her” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list