Which to use
“heel” and “hen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,960
- “heel” frequency rank
- #34,162
- “hen” frequency rank
- 83122
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | heel | hen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | der hintere Teil des Fußes unter dem Knöchel | die Henne, ein weiblicher Vogel |
Where the eye mixes heel and hen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. heel runs 4 letters (CVVC) against hen's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses heel with hen
A purely visual mix-up. heel ([hiːl]) and hen ([hɛn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83122, 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]. hen is at rank #34,162, tagged as anoun, pronounced [hɛn].
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 83122, this pair ranks #145,273 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of heel vs hen
Shared letters: eh. Private to "heel": l. Private to "hen": n.
"heel" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "hen" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- heel ← ehel · heell · hheel
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "heel" and "hen" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "heel" or "hen" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "heel" and "hen" 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 "hen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #145,273 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "heel" and "hen" 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 #145,273 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.