hebevshegteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#21,284
“hebe” frequency rank
#48,210
“hegte” frequency rank
69494
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hebe hegte
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs heben 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs hegen

Where the eye mixes hebe and hegte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. hebe runs 4 letters (CVCV) against hegte's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
hebe
5 ch
hegte

Look-alike desk: hebe vs hegte

A purely visual mix-up. hebe ([ˈheːbə]) and hegte ([ˈheːktə]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69494, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hebe is recorded at frequency rank #21,284, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈheːbə]. hegte is at rank #48,210, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈheːktə].

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 69494, this pair ranks #474,886 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hebe vs hegte

Shared letters: eh. Private to "hebe": b. Private to "hegte": gt.

"hebe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "hegte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hebe ← ehbe · hbee · hebbe · heeb · hhebe
  • hegte ← ehgte · heget · heggte · hegtte · hetge · hgete · hhegte

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "hebe" and "hegte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈheːbə] versus [ˈheːktə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "hebe" or "hegte" show up more?
"hebe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,284 in our German list, against #48,210 for "hegte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "hebe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hegte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #474,886 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hebe" and "hegte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hegte vs Hengste". 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 #474,886 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