hörvsHorbConfusable pair

Quick tell: hör is a verb, Horb is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hör” is a verb and “Horb” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,601
“hör” frequency rank
#36,405
“Horb” frequency rank
39006
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hör Horb
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs hören eine Stadt in Baden-Württemberg, Deutschland

Where the eye mixes hör and Horb

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

3 ch
hör
4 ch
Horb

Why the eye confuses hör with Horb

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hör is [høːɐ̯] while Horb is [hɔʁp]. 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 name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39006, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hör is recorded at frequency rank #2,601, classified as averb, pronounced [høːɐ̯]. Horb is at rank #36,405, tagged as aname, pronounced [hɔʁp].

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 39006, this pair ranks #1,548,686 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hör vs Horb

Shared letters: hr. Private to "hör": ö. Private to "Horb": bo.

"hör" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Horb" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Horbhhorb · hobr · horbb · horrb · hrob · ohrb

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "hör" for "Horb" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hör" is a verb and "Horb" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "hör" or "Horb" show up more?
"hör" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,601 in our German list, against #36,405 for "Horb". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hör" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Horb" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,548,686 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hör" and "Horb" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "höh vs Horb". 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 #1,548,686 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