HeravsHerrnTell them apart

Which to use

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

#35,231
“Hera” frequency rank
#1,699
“Herrn” frequency rank
36930
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Hera Herrn
Definition höchste der olympischen Götter, Schwester und Gattin des Zeus Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Herr

Where the eye mixes Hera and Herrn

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Hera runs 4 letters (CVCV) against Herrn's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Hera
5 ch
Herrn

Visual trap between Hera and Herrn

A purely visual mix-up. Hera ([ˈheːʁa]) and Herrn ([hɛʁn]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36930, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Hera is recorded at frequency rank #35,231, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈheːʁa]. Herrn is at rank #1,699, tagged as anoun, pronounced [hɛʁn].

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 36930, this pair ranks #1,603,045 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Hera vs Herrn

Shared letters: ehr. Private to "Hera": a. Private to "Herrn": n.

"Hera" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Herrn" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Hera ← ehra · herra · hhera · hrea
  • Herrn ← ehrrn · hern · hernr · herrnn · hherrn · hrern

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Hera" for "Herrn" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈheːʁa] versus [hɛʁn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Hera" or "Herrn" show up more?
"Herrn" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,699 in our German list, against #35,231 for "Hera". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Hera" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Herrn" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,603,045 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Hera" and "Herrn" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "heel vs Hera". 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 #1,603,045 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