hörenvsHürdenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#702
“hören” frequency rank
#10,493
“Hürden” frequency rank
11195
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hören Hürden
Definition mit den Ohren Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Hürde

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hören and Hürden apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
hören
6 ch
Hürden

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hören is [ˈhøːʁən] while Hürden is [ˈhʏʁdn̩]. 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 11195, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hören is recorded at frequency rank #702, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhøːʁən]. Hürden is at rank #10,493, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhʏʁdn̩].

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 11195, this pair ranks #1,971,171 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hören vs Hürden

Shared letters: ehnr. Private to "hören": ö. Private to "Hürden": .

"hören" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Hürden" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Frequency comparison

hören#702
Hürden#10,493

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hören" and "Hürden" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hören" is a verb and "Hürden" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hören" or "Hürden"?
"hören" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #702 in our German list, against #10,493 for "Hürden". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering hören vs Hürden

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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