hohenvsHöhlenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: hohen is a adjective, Höhlen is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#858
“hohen” frequency rank
#12,311
“Höhlen” frequency rank
13169
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hohen Höhlen
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs hoch Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Höhle

Where the eye mixes hohen and Höhlen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. hohen runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against Höhlen's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
hohen
6 ch
Höhlen

Look-alike desk: hohen vs Höhlen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hohen is [ˈhoːən] while Höhlen is [ˈhøːlən]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13169, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hohen is recorded at frequency rank #858, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈhoːən]. Höhlen is at rank #12,311, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhøːlən].

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 13169, this pair ranks #1,959,687 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hohen vs Höhlen

Shared letters: ehn. Private to "hohen": o. Private to "Höhlen": lö.

"hohen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Höhlen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hohen ← hhoen · hhohen · hoehn · hohenn · hohhen · hohne · ohhen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hohen" and "Höhlen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hohen" is an adjective and "Höhlen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "hohen" or "Höhlen" show up more?
"hohen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #858 in our German list, against #12,311 for "Höhlen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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 "Höhlen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,959,687 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hohen" and "Höhlen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "höh vs hohen". 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 #1,959,687 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