HöhlevsHohnWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#5,271
“Höhle” frequency rank
#21,292
“Hohn” frequency rank
26563
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Höhle Hohn
Definition durch natürliche Prozesse entstandener, für Menschen zugänglicher hohler Raum in der Erdkruste, der relativ nah an der Oberfläche ist und teilweise oder ganz von Gestein umgeben ist demütigender, beißender Spott

Where the eye mixes Höhle and Hohn

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Höhle
4 ch
Hohn

Visual trap between Höhle and Hohn

A purely visual mix-up. Höhle ([ˈhøːlə]) and Hohn ([hoːn]) 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 26563, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Höhle is recorded at frequency rank #5,271, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhøːlə]. Hohn is at rank #21,292, tagged as anoun, pronounced [hoːn].

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 26563, this pair ranks #1,816,098 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Höhle vs Hohn

Shared letters: h. Private to "Höhle": elö. Private to "Hohn": no.

"Höhle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Hohn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Hohnhhohn · hhon · hohhn · hohnn · honh · ohhn

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Höhle" and "Hohn" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhøːlə] versus [hoːn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Höhle" or "Hohn" show up more?
"Höhle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,271 in our German list, against #21,292 for "Hohn". 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 "Höhle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Hohn" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,816,098 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Höhle" and "Hohn" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hähne vs Hohn". 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 #1,816,098 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