heelvsHemerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: heel is a noun, Hemer is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“heel” is a noun and “Hemer” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,960
“heel” frequency rank
#49,776
“Hemer” frequency rank
98736
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature heel Hemer
Definition der hintere Teil des Fußes unter dem Knöchel Stadt in Deutschland, im Sauerland

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
heel
5 ch
Hemer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: heel is [hiːl] while Hemer is [ˈheːmɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 98736, 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]. Hemer is at rank #49,776, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈheːmɐ].

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 98736, this pair ranks #944 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of heel vs Hemer

Shared letters: eh. Private to "heel": l. Private to "Hemer": mr.

"heel" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "Hemer" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • heelehel · heell · hheel
  • Hemerehmer · heemr · hemerr · hemre · hhemer · hmeer

Frequency comparison

heel#48,960
Hemer#49,776

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "heel" and "Hemer" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "heel" is a noun and "Hemer" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "heel" or "Hemer"?
"heel" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #48,960 in our German list, against #49,776 for "Hemer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering heel vs Hemer

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “heel”; for a name, it's “Hemer”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “heel” 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