HundevsHürdeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,343
“Hunde” frequency rank
#9,739
“Hürde” frequency rank
12082
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Hunde Hürde
Definition Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Hund 76,20 bis 106,68 cm hohes Hindernis, das in bestimmten Abständen (ungefähr 8,50 bis 35 m) auf der Laufstrecke steht und vom Läufer überwunden werden muss, ohne dass es umfällt

Where the eye mixes Hunde and Hürde

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

5 ch
Hunde
5 ch
Hürde

Visual trap between Hunde and Hürde

A purely visual mix-up. Hunde ([ˈhʊndə]) and Hürde ([ˈhʏʁdə]) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12082, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Hunde is recorded at frequency rank #2,343, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhʊndə]. Hürde is at rank #9,739, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhʏʁdə].

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 12082, this pair ranks #1,966,281 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Hunde vs Hürde

Shared letters: deh. Private to "Hunde": nu. Private to "Hürde": rü.

"Hunde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Hürde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Hunde ← hhunde · hnude · hudne · hundde · huned · hunnde · uhnde

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Hunde" and "Hürde" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhʊndə] versus [ˈhʏʁdə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Hunde" or "Hürde"?
"Hunde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,343 in our German list, against #9,739 for "Hürde". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Hunde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Hürde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,966,281 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Hunde" and "Hürde" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hardi vs Hürde". 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 #1,966,281 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