HirsevsHürdeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#43,965
“Hirse” frequency rank
#9,739
“Hürde” frequency rank
53704
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Hirse Hürde
Definition Sammelbezeichnung für einige kleinfrüchtige Getreidearten aus der Familie der Süßgräser 76,20 bis 106,68 cm hohes Hindernis, das in bestimmten Abständen (ungefähr 8,50 bis 35 m) auf der Laufstrecke steht und vom Läufer überwunden werden muss, ohne dass es umfällt

Where the eye mixes Hirse and Hürde

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Hirse and Hürde follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
Hirse
5 ch
Hürde

Why the eye confuses Hirse with Hürde

A purely visual mix-up. Hirse ([ˈhɪʁzə]) and Hürde ([ˈhʏʁdə]) 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 53704, 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]. Hürde is at rank #9,739, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhʏʁdə].

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 53704, this pair ranks #1,047,622 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Hirse vs Hürde

Shared letters: ehr. Private to "Hirse": is. Private to "Hürde": dü.

"Hirse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Hürde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Hirse" for "Hürde" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhɪʁzə] versus [ˈhʏʁdə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Hirse" or "Hürde" show up more?
"Hürde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,739 in our German list, against #43,965 for "Hirse". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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 "Hürde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,047,622 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Hirse" and "Hürde" 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 #1,047,622 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