HeckevshegteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Hecke is a noun, hegte is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Hecke” is a noun and “hegte” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#22,008
“Hecke” frequency rank
#48,210
“hegte” frequency rank
70218
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Hecke hegte
Definition Aufwuchs dicht beieinander stehender und stark verzweigter Sträucher oder Büsche 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs hegen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Hecke and hegte apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
Hecke
5 ch
hegte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Hecke is [ˈhɛkə] while hegte is [ˈheːktə]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70218, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Hecke is recorded at frequency rank #22,008, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɛkə]. 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 70218, this pair ranks #452,952 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Hecke vs hegte

Shared letters: eh. Private to "Hecke": ck. Private to "hegte": gt.

"Hecke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "hegte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Heckeehcke · hceke · heccke · hecek · heckke · hekce · hhecke
  • hegteehgte · heget · heggte · hegtte · hetge · hgete · hhegte

Frequency comparison

Hecke#22,008
hegte#48,210

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Hecke" and "hegte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Hecke" is a noun and "hegte" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Hecke" or "hegte"?
"Hecke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,008 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.

Remembering Hecke vs hegte

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Hecke”; for a verb, it's “hegte”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Hecke” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list