HoustonvshustenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Houston is a name, husten is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Houston” is a name and “husten” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,096
“Houston” frequency rank
#10,111
“husten” frequency rank
22207
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Houston husten
Definition Stadt in dem US-Bundesstaat Texas heftig Luft aus der Lunge ausstoßen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Houston and husten apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
Houston
6 ch
husten

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Houston is [ˈhjuːstən] while husten is [ˈhuːstn̩]. 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 (name vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22207, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Houston is recorded at frequency rank #12,096, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈhjuːstən]. husten is at rank #10,111, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhuːstn̩].

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 22207, this pair ranks #1,876,986 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Houston vs husten

Shared letters: hnstu. Private to "Houston": o. Private to "husten": e.

"Houston" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "husten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Houstonhhouston · hosuton · housotn · housston · houstno · houstonn · houstton · houtson
  • hustenhhusten · hsuten · husetn · hussten · hustenn · hustne · hustten · hutsen

Frequency comparison

Houston#12,096
husten#10,111

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Houston" and "husten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Houston" is a name and "husten" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Houston" or "husten"?
"husten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,111 in our German list, against #12,096 for "Houston". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Houston vs husten

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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