hochvshöreWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#451
“hoch” frequency rank
#2,115
“höre” frequency rank
2566
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hoch höre
Definition weit oben befindlich 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs hören

Where the eye mixes hoch and höre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

4 ch
hoch
4 ch
höre

Why the eye confuses hoch with höre

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hoch is [hoːx] while höre is [ˈhøːʁə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2566, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hoch is recorded at frequency rank #451, classified as anadj, pronounced [hoːx]. 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 2566, this pair ranks #2,002,059 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hoch vs höre

Shared letters: h. Private to "hoch": co. Private to "höre": erö.

"hoch" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "höre" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hochhcoh · hhoch · hocch · hochh · hohc · ohch

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "hoch" and "höre" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hoch" is an adjective and "höre" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hoch" or "höre"?
"hoch" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #451 in our German list, against #2,115 for "höre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "hoch" 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 #2,002,059 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hoch" and "höre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "haze vs höre". 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 #2,002,059 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