headvshejWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: head is a noun, hej is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“head” is a noun and “hej” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,062
“head” frequency rank
#48,213
“hej” frequency rank
59275
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature head hej
Definition der Kopf informelle Grußformel

Where the eye mixes head and hej

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

4 ch
head
3 ch
hej

Why the eye confuses head with hej

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: head is [hɛd] while hej is [haɪ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59275, 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]. hej is at rank #48,213, tagged as anintj, pronounced [haɪ].

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 59275, this pair ranks #830,617 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of head vs hej

Shared letters: eh. Private to "head": ad. Private to "hej": j.

"head" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "hej" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • headehad · haed · headd · heda · hhead

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "head" and "hej" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "head" is a noun and "hej" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "head" vs "hej" - which ranks higher?
"head" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,062 in our German list, against #48,213 for "hej". 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 "hej" 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 "hej" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #830,617 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "head" and "hej" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "heel vs hej". 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 #830,617 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