Which to use
“heel” and “Herd” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,960
- “heel” frequency rank
- #9,043
- “Herd” frequency rank
- 58003
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | heel | Herd |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | der hintere Teil des Fußes unter dem Knöchel | (zentrale) Feuerstelle, Wärmequelle und Kochstelle eines Hauses |
Where the eye mixes heel and Herd
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses heel with Herd
A purely visual mix-up. heel ([hiːl]) and Herd ([heːɐ̯t]) 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 58003, 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]. Herd is at rank #9,043, tagged as anoun, pronounced [heːɐ̯t].
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 58003, this pair ranks #879,404 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of heel vs Herd
Shared letters: eh. Private to "heel": l. Private to "Herd": dr.
"heel" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "Herd" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "heel" and "Herd" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "heel" or "Herd"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "heel" and "Herd" 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 "Herd" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #879,404 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "heel" and "Herd" 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 #879,404 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.