Which to use
“heels” and “Held” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,932
- “heels” frequency rank
- #4,618
- “Held” frequency rank
- 22550
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | heels | Held |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Plural des Substantivs heel | jemand, der sich besonders mutig oder erfolgreich für andere oder für eine Sache einsetzt oder bei einem Einsatz umkommt |
Where the eye mixes heels and Held
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: heels vs Held
A purely visual mix-up. heels ([hiːlz]) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22550, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
heels is recorded at frequency rank #17,932, classified as anoun, pronounced [hiːlz]. 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 22550, this pair ranks #1,872,808 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of heels vs Held
Shared letters: ehl. Private to "heels": s. Private to "Held": d.
"heels" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "Held" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "heels" for "Held" ever safe?
Frequency check: "heels" vs "Held" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "heels" 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 #1,872,808 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "heels" and "Held" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "heel vs heels". 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 #1,872,808 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.