Which to use
“hofften” is a verb and “Hopfen” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,352
- “hofften” frequency rank
- #23,988
- “Hopfen” frequency rank
- 51340
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hofften | Hopfen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs hoffen | der echte Hopfen, eine 5 m hohe Kletterpflanze, dient als Bitterstoff-Erzeuger in der Bierbrauerei |
Where the eye mixes hofften and Hopfen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. hofften runs 7 letters (CVCCCVC) against Hopfen's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses hofften with Hopfen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hofften is [ˈhɔftn̩] while Hopfen is [ˈhɔp͡fn̩]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51340, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hofften is recorded at frequency rank #27,352, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhɔftn̩]. Hopfen is at rank #23,988, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɔp͡fn̩].
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 51340, this pair ranks #1,139,206 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hofften vs Hopfen
Shared letters: efhno. Private to "hofften": t. Private to "Hopfen": p.
"hofften" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC · "Hopfen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hofften" for "Hopfen" ever safe?
Frequency check: "hofften" vs "Hopfen" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "hofften" and "Hopfen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hofften" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Hopfen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,139,206 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hofften" and "Hopfen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Happen vs Hopfen". 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 #1,139,206 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.