häufigevsheutigeConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#13,396
“häufige” frequency rank
#2,966
“heutige” frequency rank
16362
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature häufige heutige
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs häufig Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs heutig

Where the eye mixes häufige and heutige

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. häufige and heutige follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
häufige
7 ch
heutige

Visual trap between häufige and heutige

A purely visual mix-up. häufige ([ˈhɔɪ̯fɪɡə]) and heutige ([ˈhɔɪ̯tɪɡə]) 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 16362, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

häufige is recorded at frequency rank #13,396, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈhɔɪ̯fɪɡə]. heutige is at rank #2,966, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈhɔɪ̯tɪɡə].

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 16362, this pair ranks #1,936,480 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of häufige vs heutige

Shared letters: eghiu. Private to "häufige": fä. Private to "heutige": t.

"häufige" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV  ·  "heutige" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • heutige ← ehutige · hetuige · heuitge · heutgie · heutieg · heutigge · heuttige · hheutige

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "häufige" for "heutige" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhɔɪ̯fɪɡə] versus [ˈhɔɪ̯tɪɡə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "häufige" vs "heutige" - which ranks higher?
"heutige" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,966 in our German list, against #13,396 for "häufige". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "häufige" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "heutige" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,936,480 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "häufige" and "heutige" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "heftigem vs heutige". 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 #1,936,480 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