headvsHeerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#11,062
“head” frequency rank
#5,963
“Heer” frequency rank
17025
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature head Heer
Definition der Kopf Gesamtheit der Landstreitkräfte eines Staates

Where the eye mixes head and Heer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
head
4 ch
Heer

Why the eye confuses head with Heer

A purely visual mix-up. head ([hɛd]) and Heer ([heːɐ̯]) 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 17025, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

head is recorded at frequency rank #11,062, classified as anoun, pronounced [hɛd]. Heer is at rank #5,963, tagged as anoun, pronounced [heːɐ̯].

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 17025, this pair ranks #1,930,995 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of head vs Heer

Shared letters: eh. Private to "head": ad. Private to "Heer": r.

"head" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "Heer" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • headehad · haed · headd · heda · hhead
  • Heerheerr · hheer

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "head" for "Heer" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([hɛd] versus [heːɐ̯]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "head" vs "Heer" - which ranks higher?
"Heer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,963 in our German list, against #11,062 for "head". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "head" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Heer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,930,995 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "head" and "Heer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "head vs heel". 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 #1,930,995 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