hohenvshohlConfusable pair

Which to use

“hohen” and “hohl” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#858
“hohen” frequency rank
#18,281
“hohl” frequency rank
19139
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hohen hohl
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs hoch ohne Inhalt

Where the eye mixes hohen and hohl

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

5 ch
hohen
4 ch
hohl

Look-alike desk: hohen vs hohl

A purely visual mix-up. hohen ([ˈhoːən]) and hohl ([hoːl]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19139, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hohen is recorded at frequency rank #858, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈhoːən]. hohl is at rank #18,281, tagged as anadj, pronounced [hoːl].

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 19139, this pair ranks #1,911,452 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hohen vs hohl

Shared letters: ho. Private to "hohen": en. Private to "hohl": l.

"hohen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "hohl" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hohenhhoen · hhohen · hoehn · hohenn · hohhen · hohne · ohhen
  • hohlhhohl · hhol · hohhl · hohll · holh · ohhl

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "hohen" for "hohl" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhoːən] versus [hoːl]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "hohen" or "hohl"?
"hohen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #858 in our German list, against #18,281 for "hohl". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "hohen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hohl" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,911,452 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hohen" and "hohl" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "heel vs hohl". 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 #1,911,452 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