vorhatvsvorherTell them apart

Quick tell: vorhat is a verb, vorher is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vorhat” is a verb and “vorher” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,859
“vorhat” frequency rank
#804
“vorher” frequency rank
31663
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vorhat vorher
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv der Nebensatzkonjugation des Verbs vorhaben vor diesem Zeitpunkt oder Vorgang

Where the eye mixes vorhat and vorher

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
vorhat
6 ch
vorher

Why the eye confuses vorhat with vorher

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vorhat is [ˈfoːɐ̯ˌhat] while vorher is [ˈfoːɐ̯heːɐ̯]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31663, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vorhat is recorded at frequency rank #30,859, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfoːɐ̯ˌhat]. vorher is at rank #804, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ˈfoːɐ̯heːɐ̯].

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 31663, this pair ranks #1,723,620 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vorhat vs vorher

Shared letters: horv. Private to "vorhat": at. Private to "vorher": e.

"vorhat" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "vorher" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vorhatovrhat · vohrat · voraht · vorhatt · vorhhat · vorhta · vorrhat · vrohat
  • vorherovrher · vohrer · vorehr · vorherr · vorhher · vorhre · vorrher · vroher

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "vorhat" and "vorher" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vorhat" is a verb and "vorher" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "vorhat" or "vorher" show up more?
"vorher" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #804 in our German list, against #30,859 for "vorhat". 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 "vorhat" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vorher" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,723,620 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vorhat" and "vorher" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vorhat vs Vorhof". 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 #1,723,620 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