hörevshurtWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,115
“höre” frequency rank
#43,976
“hurt” frequency rank
46091
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature höre hurt
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs hören 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs huren

Where the eye mixes höre and hurt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. höre (CVCV) and hurt (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
höre
4 ch
hurt

Visual trap between höre and hurt

A purely visual mix-up. höre ([ˈhøːʁə]) and hurt ([huːɐ̯t]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46091, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

höre is recorded at frequency rank #2,115, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhøːʁə]. hurt is at rank #43,976, tagged as averb, pronounced [huːɐ̯t].

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 46091, this pair ranks #1,330,939 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of höre vs hurt

Shared letters: hr. Private to "höre": eö. Private to "hurt": tu.

"höre" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "hurt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hurt ← hhurt · hrut · hurrt · hurtt · hutr · uhrt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "höre" and "hurt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhøːʁə] versus [huːɐ̯t]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "höre" or "hurt"?
"höre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,115 in our German list, against #43,976 for "hurt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "höre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hurt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,330,939 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "höre" and "hurt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hum vs hurt". 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 #1,330,939 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