HöfevshotConfusable pair

Quick tell: Höfe is a noun, hot is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#16,734
“Höfe” frequency rank
#5,185
“hot” frequency rank
21919
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Höfe hot
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Hof von sehr hoher Temperatur, heiß

Where the eye mixes Höfe and hot

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. Höfe runs 4 letters (CVCV) against hot's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Höfe
3 ch
hot

Visual trap between Höfe and hot

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Höfe is [ˈhøːfə] while hot is [hɒt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21919, 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]. hot is at rank #5,185, tagged as anadj, pronounced [hɒt].

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 21919, this pair ranks #1,880,586 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Höfe vs hot

Shared letters: h. Private to "Höfe": efö. Private to "hot": ot.

"Höfe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "hot" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Höfe" for "hot" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Höfe" is a noun and "hot" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Höfe" or "hot" show up more?
"hot" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,185 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.

Useful next steps

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 "hot" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,880,586 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Höfe" and "hot" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "haze vs Höfe". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,880,586 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