HummervsHüterWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#28,252
“Hummer” frequency rank
#23,182
“Hüter” frequency rank
51434
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Hummer Hüter
Definition großer, langgestreckter, gepanzerter, zehnfüßiger Krebs mit gewaltigen Scheren an europäischen und nordamerikanischen Küsten jemand (oder ein Subjekt), der etwas wachsam beobachtet und schützt/garantiert

Where the eye mixes Hummer and Hüter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Hummer runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against Hüter's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Hummer
5 ch
Hüter

Why the eye confuses Hummer with Hüter

A purely visual mix-up. Hummer ([ˈhʊmɐ]) and Hüter ([ˈhyːtɐ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51434, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Hummer is recorded at frequency rank #28,252, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhʊmɐ]. Hüter is at rank #23,182, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhyːtɐ].

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 51434, this pair ranks #1,135,695 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Hummer vs Hüter

Shared letters: ehr. Private to "Hummer": mu. Private to "Hüter": tü.

"Hummer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Hüter" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Hummer" and "Hüter" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhʊmɐ] versus [ˈhyːtɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Hummer" or "Hüter" show up more?
"Hüter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,182 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

Eye-level mix-up between "Hummer" and "Hüter" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Hummer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Hüter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,135,695 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Hummer" and "Hüter" 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 #1,135,695 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