geheiztvsgehemmtWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: geheizt is a verb, gehemmt is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“geheizt” is a verb and “gehemmt” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#43,204
“geheizt” frequency rank
#36,350
“gehemmt” frequency rank
79554
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature geheizt gehemmt
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs heizen sich in einem seelischen Zustand großer Zurückhaltung befinden; voller Hemmungen sein; verkrampft und angespannt sein; nicht locker sein

Where the eye mixes geheizt and gehemmt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. geheizt (CVCVVCC) and gehemmt (CVCVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
geheizt
7 ch
gehemmt

Visual trap between geheizt and gehemmt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: geheizt is [ɡəˈhaɪ̯t͡st] while gehemmt is [ɡəˈhɛmt]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79554, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

geheizt is recorded at frequency rank #43,204, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈhaɪ̯t͡st]. gehemmt is at rank #36,350, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈhɛmt].

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 79554, this pair ranks #214,075 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of geheizt vs gehemmt

Shared letters: eght. Private to "geheizt": iz. Private to "gehemmt": m.

"geheizt" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC  ·  "gehemmt" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • geheiztegheizt · geehizt · geheitz · geheiztt · geheizzt · gehezit · gehheizt · gehiezt
  • gehemmteghemmt · geehmmt · gehemmtt · gehemt · gehemtm · gehhemmt · gehmemt · ggehemmt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "geheizt" for "gehemmt" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "geheizt" is a verb and "gehemmt" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "geheizt" or "gehemmt" show up more?
"gehemmt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,350 in our German list, against #43,204 for "geheizt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "geheizt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gehemmt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #214,075 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "geheizt" and "gehemmt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gefeit vs geheizt". 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 #214,075 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