hotelvshütenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#1,060
“hotel” frequency rank
#16,182
“hüten” frequency rank
17242
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hotel hüten
Definition Hotel aufpassen auf, wobei meist Tiere, aber auch Kinder gemeint sind

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hotel and hüten apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
hotel
5 ch
hüten

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hotel is [ɦuˈtɛɫ] while hüten is [ˈhyːtn̩]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17242, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hotel is recorded at frequency rank #1,060, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɦuˈtɛɫ]. hüten is at rank #16,182, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhyːtn̩].

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 17242, this pair ranks #1,929,118 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hotel vs hüten

Shared letters: eht. Private to "hotel": lo. Private to "hüten": .

"hotel" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "hüten" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hotelhhotel · hoetl · hotell · hotle · hottel · htoel · ohtel

Frequency comparison

hotel#1,060
hüten#16,182

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hotel" and "hüten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hotel" is a noun and "hüten" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hotel" or "hüten"?
"hotel" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,060 in our German list, against #16,182 for "hüten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering hotel vs hüten

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “hotel”; for a verb, it's “hüten”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “hotel” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list