hissenvshustenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#43,966
“hissen” frequency rank
#10,111
“husten” frequency rank
54077
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hissen husten
Definition eine Flagge oder ein Segel am Mast nach oben ziehen heftig Luft aus der Lunge ausstoßen

Where the eye mixes hissen and husten

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

6 ch
hissen
6 ch
husten

Look-alike desk: hissen vs husten

A purely visual mix-up. hissen ([ˈhɪsn̩]) and husten ([ˈhuːstn̩]) 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 54077, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hissen is recorded at frequency rank #43,966, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhɪsn̩]. husten is at rank #10,111, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhuːstn̩].

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 54077, this pair ranks #1,033,032 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hissen vs husten

Shared letters: ehns. Private to "hissen": i. Private to "husten": tu.

"hissen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "husten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hissenhhissen · hisen · hisesn · hissenn · hissne · hißen · hsisen · ihssen
  • hustenhhusten · hsuten · husetn · hussten · hustenn · hustne · hustten · hutsen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "hissen" for "husten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhɪsn̩] versus [ˈhuːstn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "hissen" vs "husten" - which ranks higher?
"husten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,111 in our German list, against #43,966 for "hissen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "hissen" and "husten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hissen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "husten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,033,032 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hissen" and "husten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hasser vs hissen". 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 #1,033,032 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