Which to use
“head” and “Held” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,062
- “head” frequency rank
- #4,618
- “Held” frequency rank
- 15680
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | head | Held |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | der Kopf | jemand, der sich besonders mutig oder erfolgreich für andere oder für eine Sache einsetzt oder bei einem Einsatz umkommt |
Where the eye mixes head and Held
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: head vs Held
A purely visual mix-up. head ([hɛd]) and Held ([hɛlt]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - a in “head” becomes l in “Held”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15680, 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]. Held is at rank #4,618, tagged as anoun, pronounced [hɛlt].
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 15680, this pair ranks #1,941,993 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of head vs Held
Shared letters: deh. Private to "head": a. Private to "Held": l.
"head" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "Held" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "head" for "Held" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "head" or "Held" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "head" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Held" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,941,993 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "head" and "Held" 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 #1,941,993 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.