Which to use
“Herr” is a noun and “höre” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #489
- “Herr” frequency rank
- #2,115
- “höre” frequency rank
- 2604
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Herr | höre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | höfliche Bezeichnung für einen Mann | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs hören |
Where the eye mixes Herr and höre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses Herr with höre
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Herr is [hɛʁ] while höre is [ˈhøːʁə]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2604, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Herr is recorded at frequency rank #489, classified as anoun, pronounced [hɛʁ]. höre is at rank #2,115, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhøːʁə].
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 2604, this pair ranks #2,001,982 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Herr vs höre
Shared letters: ehr. Private to "Herr": -. Private to "höre": ö.
"Herr" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "höre" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- Herr ← ehrr · hherr · hrer
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Herr" and "höre" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "Herr" or "höre" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "Herr" and "höre" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Herr" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "höre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #2,001,982 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Herr" and "höre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "haze vs höre". 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 #2,001,982 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.