HeerevsHexeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#34,156
“Heere” frequency rank
#11,254
“Hexe” frequency rank
45410
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Heere Hexe
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Heer weibliches, bösgesinntes und dämonisches Märchen- oder Sagenwesen zumeist in Gestalt einer hässlichen, zauberkräftigen Greisin mit einem Buckel und einer langen, krummen Nase, die Schadenszauber auf den Menschen ausüben kann und mit dem Teufel durch einen Pakt oder Buhlschaft verbündet ist

Where the eye mixes Heere and Hexe

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

5 ch
Heere
4 ch
Hexe

Why the eye confuses Heere with Hexe

A purely visual mix-up. Heere ([ˈheːʁə]) and Hexe ([ˈhɛksə]) 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 45410, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Heere is recorded at frequency rank #34,156, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈheːʁə]. Hexe is at rank #11,254, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɛksə].

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 45410, this pair ranks #1,353,972 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Heere vs Hexe

Shared letters: eh. Private to "Heere": r. Private to "Hexe": x.

"Heere" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "Hexe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Heereehere · heeer · heerre · heree · hheere
  • Hexeehxe · heex · hexxe · hhexe · hxee

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Heere" for "Hexe" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈheːʁə] versus [ˈhɛksə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Heere" or "Hexe" show up more?
"Hexe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,254 in our German list, against #34,156 for "Heere". 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 "Heere" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Hexe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,353,972 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Heere" and "Hexe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Heere 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 #1,353,972 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