HexervsHoferConfusable pair

Quick tell: Hexer is a noun, Hofer is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Hexer” is a noun and “Hofer” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,347
“Hexer” frequency rank
#7,932
“Hofer” frequency rank
53279
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Hexer Hofer
Definition männliche Hexe deutscher Nachname, Familienname

Where the eye mixes Hexer and Hofer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Hexer
5 ch
Hofer

Look-alike desk: Hexer vs Hofer

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Hexer is [ˈhɛksɐ] while Hofer is [ˈhoːfɐ]. 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 name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53279, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Hexer is recorded at frequency rank #45,347, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɛksɐ]. Hofer is at rank #7,932, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈhoːfɐ].

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 53279, this pair ranks #1,064,215 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Hexer vs Hofer

Shared letters: ehr. Private to "Hexer": x. Private to "Hofer": fo.

"Hexer" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Hofer" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Hexerehxer · heexr · hexerr · hexre · hexxer · hhexer · hxeer
  • Hoferhfoer · hhofer · hoefr · hoferr · hoffer · hofre · ohfer

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Hexer" and "Hofer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Hexer" is a noun and "Hofer" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Hexer" or "Hofer" show up more?
"Hofer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,932 in our German list, against #45,347 for "Hexer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Hexer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Hofer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,064,215 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Hexer" and "Hofer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hemer vs Hexer". 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 #1,064,215 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