hohenvshörtenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#858
“hohen” frequency rank
#11,457
“hörten” frequency rank
12315
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hohen hörten
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs hoch 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs hören

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hohen and hörten apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
hohen
6 ch
hörten

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hohen is [ˈhoːən] while hörten is [ˈhøːɐ̯tn̩]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12315, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hohen is recorded at frequency rank #858, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈhoːən]. hörten is at rank #11,457, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhøːɐ̯tn̩].

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 12315, this pair ranks #1,964,909 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hohen vs hörten

Shared letters: ehn. Private to "hohen": o. Private to "hörten": rtö.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hohenhhoen · hhohen · hoehn · hohenn · hohhen · hohne · ohhen

Frequency comparison

hohen#858
hörten#11,457

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hohen" and "hörten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hohen" is an adjective and "hörten" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hohen" or "hörten"?
"hohen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #858 in our German list, against #11,457 for "hörten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering hohen vs hörten

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “hohen”; for a verb, it's “hörten”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “hohen” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list