Which to use
“hebt” is a verb and “heel” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,377
- “hebt” frequency rank
- #48,960
- “heel” frequency rank
- 54337
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hebt | heel |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs heben | der hintere Teil des Fußes unter dem Knöchel |
Where the eye mixes hebt and heel
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. hebt (CVCC) and heel (CVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses hebt with heel
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hebt is [heːpt] while heel is [hiːl]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54337, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hebt is recorded at frequency rank #5,377, classified as averb, pronounced [heːpt]. 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 54337, this pair ranks #1,022,820 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hebt vs heel
Shared letters: eh. Private to "hebt": bt. Private to "heel": l.
"hebt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "heel" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hebt" for "heel" ever safe?
Frequency check: "hebt" vs "heel" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "hebt" and "heel" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hebt" 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 #1,022,820 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hebt" 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 #1,022,820 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.