HülsevsHundeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#42,585
“Hülse” frequency rank
#2,343
“Hunde” frequency rank
44928
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Hülse Hunde
Definition feste und meist längliche Hülle, in die etwas hineingesteckt werden kann Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Hund

Where the eye mixes Hülse and Hunde

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Hülse
5 ch
Hunde

Visual trap between Hülse and Hunde

A purely visual mix-up. Hülse ([ˈhʏlzə]) and Hunde ([ˈhʊndə]) 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 44928, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Hülse is recorded at frequency rank #42,585, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhʏlzə]. Hunde is at rank #2,343, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhʊndə].

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 44928, this pair ranks #1,370,093 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Hülse vs Hunde

Shared letters: eh. Private to "Hülse": lsü. Private to "Hunde": dnu.

"Hülse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Hunde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Hundehhunde · hnude · hudne · hundde · huned · hunnde · uhnde

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Hülse" for "Hunde" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhʏlzə] versus [ˈhʊndə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Hülse" vs "Hunde" - which ranks higher?
"Hunde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,343 in our German list, against #42,585 for "Hülse". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Hülse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Hunde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,370,093 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Hülse" and "Hunde" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "holde vs Hülse". 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 #1,370,093 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