HeftenvshegteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Heften is a noun, hegte is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Heften” is a noun and “hegte” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,112
“Heften” frequency rank
#48,210
“hegte” frequency rank
78322
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Heften hegte
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Heft 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs hegen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Heften and hegte apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
Heften
5 ch
hegte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Heften is [ˈhɛftn̩] while hegte is [ˈheːktə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78322, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Heften is recorded at frequency rank #30,112, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɛftn̩]. hegte is at rank #48,210, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈheːktə].

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 78322, this pair ranks #240,881 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Heften vs hegte

Shared letters: eht. Private to "Heften": fn. Private to "hegte": g.

"Heften" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "hegte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Heftenehften · hefetn · hefften · heftenn · heftne · heftten · hetfen · hfeten
  • hegteehgte · heget · heggte · hegtte · hetge · hgete · hhegte

Frequency comparison

Heften#30,112
hegte#48,210

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Heften" and "hegte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Heften" is a noun and "hegte" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Heften" or "hegte"?
"Heften" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,112 in our German list, against #48,210 for "hegte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Heften vs hegte

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Heften”; for a verb, it's “hegte”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Heften” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list