vorhervsVorhofTell them apart

Quick tell: vorher is a adverb, Vorhof is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#804
“vorher” frequency rank
#47,111
“Vorhof” frequency rank
47915
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vorher Vorhof
Definition vor diesem Zeitpunkt oder Vorgang freier Platz auf der Vorderseite eines Gebäudes

Where the eye mixes vorher and Vorhof

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

6 ch
vorher
6 ch
Vorhof

Look-alike desk: vorher vs Vorhof

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vorher is [ˈfoːɐ̯heːɐ̯] while Vorhof is [ˈfoːɐ̯ˌhoːf]. 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 (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47915, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vorher is recorded at frequency rank #804, classified as anadv, pronounced [ˈfoːɐ̯heːɐ̯]. Vorhof is at rank #47,111, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfoːɐ̯ˌhoːf].

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 47915, this pair ranks #1,267,435 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vorher vs Vorhof

Shared letters: horv. Private to "vorher": e. Private to "Vorhof": f.

"vorher" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Vorhof" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vorher ← ovrher · vohrer · vorehr · vorherr · vorhher · vorhre · vorrher · vroher
  • Vorhof ← ovrhof · vohrof · vorhfo · vorhhof · vorhoff · vorohf · vorrhof · vrohof

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vorher" for "Vorhof" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vorher" is an adverb and "Vorhof" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "vorher" vs "Vorhof" - which ranks higher?
"vorher" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #804 in our German list, against #47,111 for "Vorhof". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "vorher" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Vorhof" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,267,435 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vorher" and "Vorhof" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Vorhof vs Vorhut". 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 #1,267,435 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