HimmelvsHummerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,295
“Himmel” frequency rank
#28,252
“Hummer” frequency rank
29547
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Himmel Hummer
Definition Luftraum, Gewölbe über der Erde großer, langgestreckter, gepanzerter, zehnfüßiger Krebs mit gewaltigen Scheren an europäischen und nordamerikanischen Küsten

Where the eye mixes Himmel and Hummer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Himmel and Hummer follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
Himmel
6 ch
Hummer

Look-alike desk: Himmel vs Hummer

A purely visual mix-up. Himmel ([ˈhɪml̩]) and Hummer ([ˈhʊmɐ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29547, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Himmel is recorded at frequency rank #1,295, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɪml̩]. Hummer is at rank #28,252, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhʊmɐ].

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 29547, this pair ranks #1,764,810 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Himmel vs Hummer

Shared letters: ehm. Private to "Himmel": il. Private to "Hummer": ru.

"Himmel" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Hummer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Himmel ← hhimmel · himel · himeml · himmell · himmle · hmimel · ihmmel
  • Hummer ← hhummer · hmumer · humemr · humer · hummerr · hummre · uhmmer

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Himmel" for "Hummer" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhɪml̩] versus [ˈhʊmɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Himmel" vs "Hummer" - which ranks higher?
"Himmel" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,295 in our German list, against #28,252 for "Hummer". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Himmel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Hummer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,764,810 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Himmel" and "Hummer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hemer vs Hummer". 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 #1,764,810 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