honvsHundWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: hon is a verb, Hund is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hon” is a verb and “Hund” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,001
“hon” frequency rank
#1,184
“Hund” frequency rank
41185
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hon Hund
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs honen Haustier, dessen Vorfahre der Wolf ist

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hon and Hund apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
hon
4 ch
Hund

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hon is [hoːn] while Hund is [hʊnt]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41185, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hon is recorded at frequency rank #40,001, classified as averb, pronounced [hoːn]. Hund is at rank #1,184, tagged as anoun, pronounced [hʊnt].

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 41185, this pair ranks #1,486,876 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hon vs Hund

Shared letters: hn. Private to "hon": o. Private to "Hund": du.

"hon" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Hund" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Hundhhund · hnud · hudn · hundd · hunnd · uhnd

Frequency comparison

hon#40,001
Hund#1,184

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hon" and "Hund" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hon" is a verb and "Hund" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hon" or "Hund"?
"Hund" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,184 in our German list, against #40,001 for "hon". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering hon vs Hund

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “hon”; for a noun, it's “Hund”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “hon” 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