hobenvshohenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: hoben is a verb, hohen is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hoben” is a verb and “hohen” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#31,101
“hoben” frequency rank
#858
“hohen” frequency rank
31959
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hoben hohen
Definition 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs heben Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs hoch

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hoben and hohen apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
hoben
5 ch
hohen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hoben is [ˈhoːbn̩] while hohen is [ˈhoːən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - b in “hoben” becomes h in “hohen”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31959, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hoben is recorded at frequency rank #31,101, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhoːbn̩]. hohen is at rank #858, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈhoːən].

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 31959, this pair ranks #1,717,656 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hoben vs hohen

Shared letters: ehno. Private to "hoben": b. Private to "hohen": -.

"hoben" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "hohen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hobenhboen · hhoben · hobben · hobenn · hobne · hoebn · ohben
  • hohenhhoen · hhohen · hoehn · hohenn · hohhen · hohne · ohhen

Frequency comparison

hoben#31,101
hohen#858

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hoben" and "hohen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hoben" is a verb and "hohen" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hoben" or "hohen"?
"hohen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #858 in our German list, against #31,101 for "hoben". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering hoben vs hohen

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “hoben”; for an adjective, it's “hohen”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “hoben” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list