Which to use
“heel” and “Held” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,960
- “heel” frequency rank
- #4,618
- “Held” frequency rank
- 53578
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | heel | Held |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | der hintere Teil des Fußes unter dem Knöchel | jemand, der sich besonders mutig oder erfolgreich für andere oder für eine Sache einsetzt oder bei einem Einsatz umkommt |
Where the eye mixes heel and Held
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses heel with Held
A purely visual mix-up. heel ([hiːl]) and Held ([hɛlt]) 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 53578, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
heel is recorded at frequency rank #48,960, classified as anoun, pronounced [hiːl]. Held is at rank #4,618, tagged as anoun, pronounced [hɛlt].
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 53578, this pair ranks #1,052,511 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of heel vs Held
Shared letters: ehl. Private to "heel": -. Private to "Held": d.
"heel" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "Held" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "heel" for "Held" ever safe?
Which is more common, "heel" or "Held"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "heel" and "Held" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "heel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Held" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,052,511 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "heel" and "Held" 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 #1,052,511 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.