Which to use
“hörten” is a verb and “hostel” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,457
- “hörten” frequency rank
- #31,620
- “hostel” frequency rank
- 43077
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hörten | hostel |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs hören | günstige Unterkunft besonders für Studenten und Schüler; Jugendherberge |
Where the eye mixes hörten and hostel
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. hörten and hostel follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between hörten and hostel
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hörten is [ˈhøːɐ̯tn̩] while hostel is [ˈɦɔstɛl]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43077, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hörten is recorded at frequency rank #11,457, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhøːɐ̯tn̩]. hostel is at rank #31,620, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈɦɔstɛl].
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 43077, this pair ranks #1,429,327 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hörten vs hostel
Shared letters: eht. Private to "hörten": nrö. Private to "hostel": los.
"hörten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "hostel" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- hostel ← hhostel · hosetl · hosstel · hostell · hostle · hosttel · hotsel · hsotel
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hörten" for "hostel" ever safe?
Which is more common, "hörten" or "hostel"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "hörten" and "hostel" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hörten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hostel" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,429,327 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hörten" and "hostel" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hostel vs hosts". 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 #1,429,327 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.