HühnervsHummerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“Hühner” and “Hummer” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,112
“Hühner” frequency rank
#28,252
“Hummer” frequency rank
38364
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Hühner Hummer
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Huhn großer, langgestreckter, gepanzerter, zehnfüßiger Krebs mit gewaltigen Scheren an europäischen und nordamerikanischen Küsten

Where the eye mixes Hühner and Hummer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Hühner and Hummer follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
Hühner
6 ch
Hummer

Look-alike desk: Hühner vs Hummer

A purely visual mix-up. Hühner ([ˈhyːnɐ]) and Hummer ([ˈhʊmɐ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38364, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Hühner is recorded at frequency rank #10,112, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhyːnɐ]. Hummer is at rank #28,252, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhʊmɐ].

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 38364, this pair ranks #1,565,919 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Hühner vs Hummer

Shared letters: ehr. Private to "Hühner": nü. Private to "Hummer": mu.

"Hühner" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Hummer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Hummer ← hhummer · hmumer · humemr · humer · hummerr · hummre · uhmmer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Hühner" and "Hummer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhyːnɐ] versus [ˈhʊmɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Hühner" or "Hummer" show up more?
"Hühner" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,112 in our German list, against #28,252 for "Hummer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Hühner" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Hummer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,565,919 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Hühner" and "Hummer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hemer vs Hummer". 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 #1,565,919 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list