hastigvsheftigTell them apart

Which to use

“hastig” and “heftig” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#31,600
“hastig” frequency rank
#3,660
“heftig” frequency rank
35260
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hastig heftig
Definition zu schnell und ohne Sorgfalt, genaue Überlegung oder große Vorbereitung; in großer Eile mit großer Intensität; sehr stark

Where the eye mixes hastig and heftig

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

6 ch
hastig
6 ch
heftig

Look-alike desk: hastig vs heftig

A purely visual mix-up. hastig ([ˈhastɪç]) and heftig ([ˈhɛftɪç]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35260, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hastig is recorded at frequency rank #31,600, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈhastɪç]. heftig is at rank #3,660, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈhɛftɪç].

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 35260, this pair ranks #1,644,163 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hastig vs heftig

Shared letters: ghit. Private to "hastig": as. Private to "heftig": ef.

"hastig" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "heftig" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hastig ← ahstig · hasitg · hasstig · hastgi · hastigg · hasttig · hatsig · hhastig
  • heftig ← ehftig · hefftig · hefitg · heftgi · heftigg · hefttig · hetfig · hfetig

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "hastig" and "heftig" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhastɪç] versus [ˈhɛftɪç]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "hastig" or "heftig" show up more?
"heftig" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,660 in our German list, against #31,600 for "hastig". 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 "hastig" and "heftig" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hastig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "heftig" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,644,163 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hastig" and "heftig" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "haarig vs hastig". 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 #1,644,163 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