HungervsHunnenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,831
“Hunger” frequency rank
#41,907
“Hunnen” frequency rank
44738
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Hunger Hunnen
Definition Verlangen nach Essen Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Hunne

Where the eye mixes Hunger and Hunnen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Hunger and Hunnen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
Hunger
6 ch
Hunnen

Look-alike desk: Hunger vs Hunnen

A purely visual mix-up. Hunger ([ˈhʊŋɐ]) and Hunnen ([ˈhʊnən]) 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 44738, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Hunger is recorded at frequency rank #2,831, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhʊŋɐ]. Hunnen is at rank #41,907, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhʊnən].

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 44738, this pair ranks #1,376,357 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Hunger vs Hunnen

Shared letters: ehnu. Private to "Hunger": gr. Private to "Hunnen": -.

"Hunger" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Hunnen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Hunger ← hhunger · hnuger · hugner · hunegr · hungerr · hungger · hungre · hunnger
  • Hunnen ← hhunnen · hnunen · hunen · hunenn · hunnenn · hunnne · uhnnen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Hunger" for "Hunnen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhʊŋɐ] versus [ˈhʊnən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Hunger" or "Hunnen"?
"Hunger" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,831 in our German list, against #41,907 for "Hunnen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Hunger" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Hunnen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,376,357 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Hunger" and "Hunnen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "humanen vs Hunnen". 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 #1,376,357 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