Which to use
“Hambourg” is a name and “harbour” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,793
- “Hambourg” frequency rank
- #39,828
- “harbour” frequency rank
- 52621
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Hambourg | harbour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nom de famille. | Abriter. |
Letter map: Hambourg vs harbour
Shared letters muted; letters that set Hambourg and harbour apart highlighted. Shared run: 6. Hambourg runs 8 letters (CVCCVVCC) against harbour's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: Hambourg vs harbour
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Hambourg is aname and harbouraverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52621, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Hambourg is recorded at frequency rank #12,793, classified as aname, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\ɑ̃.buʁ\. harbour is at rank #39,828, tagged as averb.
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 52621, this pair ranks #146,424 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Hambourg vs harbour
Shared letters: abhoru. Private to "Hambourg": gm. Private to "harbour": -.
"Hambourg" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC · "harbour" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Hambourg" and "harbour" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "Hambourg" or "harbour" show up more?
Useful next steps
You've compared "Hambourg" and "harbour". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "Hambourg" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "harbour" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #146,424 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Hambourg" and "harbour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "harbour vs Harcourt". 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 #146,424 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.