hommevsHummelConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#34,175
“homme” frequency rank
#17,615
“Hummel” frequency rank
51790
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature homme Hummel
Definition Mann Vertreter einer Gattung aus der Familie der Echte Bienen mit plumpem, rundlichem Körper und einem pelzigen, häufig bunten Haarkleid (Bombus)

Where the eye mixes homme and Hummel

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

5 ch
homme
6 ch
Hummel

Look-alike desk: homme vs Hummel

A purely visual mix-up. homme ([ɔm]) and Hummel ([ˈhʊml̩]) 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 51790, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

homme is recorded at frequency rank #34,175, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɔm]. Hummel is at rank #17,615, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhʊml̩].

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 51790, this pair ranks #1,121,926 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of homme vs Hummel

Shared letters: ehm. Private to "homme": o. Private to "Hummel": lu.

"homme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Hummel" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hommehhomme · hmome · homem · ohmme
  • Hummelhhummel · hmumel · humel · humeml · hummell · hummle · uhmmel

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "homme" for "Hummel" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɔm] versus [ˈhʊml̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "homme" or "Hummel" show up more?
"Hummel" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,615 in our German list, against #34,175 for "homme". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "homme" and "Hummel" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "homme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Hummel" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,121,926 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "homme" and "Hummel" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "homme vs Homs". 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 #1,121,926 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