HirsevshöreConfusable pair

Quick tell: Hirse is a noun, höre is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Hirse” is a noun and “höre” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#43,965
“Hirse” frequency rank
#2,115
“höre” frequency rank
46080
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Hirse höre
Definition Sammelbezeichnung für einige kleinfrüchtige Getreidearten aus der Familie der Süßgräser 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs hören

Where the eye mixes Hirse and höre

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

5 ch
Hirse
4 ch
höre

Look-alike desk: Hirse vs höre

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Hirse is [ˈhɪʁzə] while höre is [ˈhøːʁə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46080, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Hirse is recorded at frequency rank #43,965, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɪʁzə]. 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 46080, this pair ranks #1,331,297 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Hirse vs höre

Shared letters: ehr. Private to "Hirse": is. Private to "höre": ö.

"Hirse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "höre" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Hirse ← hhirse · hirrse · hirsse · hisre · hrise

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Hirse" and "höre" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Hirse" is a noun and "höre" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Hirse" or "höre" show up more?
"höre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,115 in our German list, against #43,965 for "Hirse". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Hirse" 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 #1,331,297 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Hirse" and "höre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hide vs Hirse". 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 #1,331,297 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