Which to use
“herben” is an adjective and “hörten” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #40,593
- “herben” frequency rank
- #11,457
- “hörten” frequency rank
- 52050
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | herben | hörten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs herb | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs hören |
Where the eye mixes herben and hörten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. herben and hörten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between herben and hörten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: herben is [ˈhɛʁbn̩] while hörten is [ˈhøːɐ̯tn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52050, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
herben is recorded at frequency rank #40,593, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈhɛʁbn̩]. hörten is at rank #11,457, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhøːɐ̯tn̩].
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 52050, this pair ranks #1,111,898 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of herben vs hörten
Shared letters: ehnr. Private to "herben": b. Private to "hörten": tö.
"herben" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "hörten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- herben ← ehrben · hebren · herbben · herbenn · herbne · herebn · herrben · hherben
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "herben" and "hörten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "herben" vs "hörten" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "herben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hörten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,111,898 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "herben" and "hörten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "harren vs herben". 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 #1,111,898 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.