Which to use
“hörten” is a verb and “Hürden” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,457
- “hörten” frequency rank
- #10,493
- “Hürden” frequency rank
- 21950
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hörten | Hürden |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs hören | Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Hürde |
Where the eye mixes hörten and Hürden
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. hörten and Hürden follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: hörten vs Hürden
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hörten is [ˈhøːɐ̯tn̩] while Hürden is [ˈhʏʁdn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 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 21950, 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]. 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 21950, this pair ranks #1,880,209 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of hörten vs Hürden
Shared letters: ehnr. Private to "hörten": tö. Private to "Hürden": dü.
"hörten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "Hürden" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "hörten" and "Hürden" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "hörten" or "Hürden" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "hörten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Hürden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,880,209 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hörten" and "Hürden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "harren vs hörten". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #1,880,209 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.