Hameln
[ˈhaːml̩n]
The verdict
“Hameln” is a moderately-common German word, ranked #20,285 in German word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #20,285
- frequency rank, German
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 17
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - eine Stadt in Niedersachsen, Deutschland
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Hameln |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | [ˈhaːml̩n] |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #20,285 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 17 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Hameln” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for Hameln is 6 letters long, classified as a proper noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈhaːml̩n]. Corpus data places it at rank #20,285 in overall German word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "eine Stadt in Niedersachsen, Deutschland".
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for Hameln, with forms such as "ahmeln", "haemln", and "hamelln". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 17 confusable-pair relationships, "hauen", "Hasen", "Havel", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct German form is Hameln, spelled H-A-M-E-L-N.
Definition
- 1eine Stadt in Niedersachsen, Deutschland
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ahmeln,haemln,hamelln,hamelnn,hamenl,hamlen,hammeln,hhameln,hmaeln
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Hameln - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "Hameln"?
What does "Hameln" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "Hameln"?
How do you pronounce "Hameln"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “Hameln”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is H-A-M-E-L-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈhaːml̩n] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “hauen” - see the side-by-side comparison. Hameln vs hauen
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.