HöfevshoffteWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#16,734
“Höfe” frequency rank
#10,873
“hoffte” frequency rank
27607
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Höfe hoffte
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Hof 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs hoffen

Where the eye mixes Höfe and hoffte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Höfe
6 ch
hoffte

Visual trap between Höfe and hoffte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Höfe is [ˈhøːfə] while hoffte is [ˈhɔftə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 27607, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Höfe is recorded at frequency rank #16,734, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhøːfə]. hoffte is at rank #10,873, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhɔftə].

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 27607, this pair ranks #1,798,984 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Höfe vs hoffte

Shared letters: efh. Private to "Höfe": ö. Private to "hoffte": ot.

"Höfe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "hoffte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hofftehfofte · hhoffte · hoffet · hofftte · hofte · hoftfe · ohffte

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Höfe" and "hoffte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Höfe" is a noun and "hoffte" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Höfe" or "hoffte"?
"hoffte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,873 in our German list, against #16,734 for "Höfe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Höfe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hoffte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,798,984 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Höfe" and "hoffte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "haze vs Höfe". 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 #1,798,984 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