Which to use
“heb” is a verb and “heel” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #28,700
- “heb” frequency rank
- #48,960
- “heel” frequency rank
- 77660
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | heb | heel |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs heben | der hintere Teil des Fußes unter dem Knöchel |
Where the eye mixes heb and heel
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. heb runs 3 letters (CVC) against heel's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between heb and heel
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: heb is [heːp] while heel is [hiːl]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77660, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
heb is recorded at frequency rank #28,700, classified as averb, pronounced [heːp]. heel is at rank #48,960, tagged as anoun, pronounced [hiːl].
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 77660, this pair ranks #255,818 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of heb vs heel
Shared letters: eh. Private to "heb": b. Private to "heel": l.
"heb" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "heel" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- heel ← ehel · heell · hheel
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "heb" and "heel" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "heb" or "heel" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "heb" and "heel" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "heb" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "heel" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #255,818 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "heb" and "heel" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "heel vs Hemer". 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 #255,818 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.