Which to use
“Hopfen” is a noun and “hörten” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,988
- “Hopfen” frequency rank
- #11,457
- “hörten” frequency rank
- 35445
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Hopfen | hörten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | der echte Hopfen, eine 5 m hohe Kletterpflanze, dient als Bitterstoff-Erzeuger in der Bierbrauerei | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs hören |
Where the eye mixes Hopfen and hörten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses Hopfen with hörten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Hopfen is [ˈhɔp͡fn̩] while hörten is [ˈhøːɐ̯tn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35445, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Hopfen is recorded at frequency rank #23,988, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɔp͡fn̩]. 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 35445, this pair ranks #1,639,822 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Hopfen vs hörten
Shared letters: ehn. Private to "Hopfen": fop. Private to "hörten": rtö.
"Hopfen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "hörten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- Hopfen ← hhopfen · hofpen · hopefn · hopfenn · hopffen · hopfne · hoppfen · hpofen
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Hopfen" and "hörten" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "Hopfen" or "hörten" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "Hopfen" and "hörten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Hopfen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hörten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,639,822 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Hopfen" and "hörten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "harren vs hörten". 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 #1,639,822 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.