HeckevsHeimeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#22,008
“Hecke” frequency rank
#33,105
“Heime” frequency rank
55113
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Hecke Heime
Definition Aufwuchs dicht beieinander stehender und stark verzweigter Sträucher oder Büsche Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Heim

Where the eye mixes Hecke and Heime

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Hecke (CVCCV) and Heime (CVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
Hecke
5 ch
Heime

Look-alike desk: Hecke vs Heime

A purely visual mix-up. Hecke ([ˈhɛkə]) and Heime ([ˈhaɪ̯mə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55113, 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]. Heime is at rank #33,105, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhaɪ̯mə].

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 55113, this pair ranks #992,256 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Hecke vs Heime

Shared letters: eh. Private to "Hecke": ck. Private to "Heime": im.

"Hecke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Heime" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Hecke ← ehcke · hceke · heccke · hecek · heckke · hekce · hhecke
  • Heime ← ehime · heiem · heimme · hemie · hheime · hieme

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Hecke" for "Heime" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhɛkə] versus [ˈhaɪ̯mə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Hecke" or "Heime"?
"Hecke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,008 in our German list, against #33,105 for "Heime". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Hecke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Heime" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #992,256 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Hecke" and "Heime" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Heime 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 #992,256 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