heelvsHexenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#48,960
“heel” frequency rank
#11,895
“Hexen” frequency rank
60855
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature heel Hexen
Definition der hintere Teil des Fußes unter dem Knöchel ein Alken mit sechs Kohlenstoffatomen und zwölf Wasserstoffatomen

Where the eye mixes heel and Hexen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
heel
5 ch
Hexen

Look-alike desk: heel vs Hexen

A purely visual mix-up. heel ([hiːl]) and Hexen ([hɛˈkseːn]) 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 60855, 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]. Hexen is at rank #11,895, tagged as anoun, pronounced [hɛˈkseːn].

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 60855, this pair ranks #771,413 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of heel vs Hexen

Shared letters: eh. Private to "heel": l. Private to "Hexen": nx.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • heelehel · heell · hheel
  • Hexenehxen · heexn · hexenn · hexne · hexxen · hhexen · hxeen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "heel" and "Hexen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([hiːl] versus [hɛˈkseːn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "heel" vs "Hexen" - which ranks higher?
"Hexen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,895 in our German list, against #48,960 for "heel". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "heel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Hexen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #771,413 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "heel" and "Hexen" 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 #771,413 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