HeftenvsHexenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#30,112
“Heften” frequency rank
#11,895
“Hexen” frequency rank
42007
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Heften Hexen
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Heft ein Alken mit sechs Kohlenstoffatomen und zwölf Wasserstoffatomen

Where the eye mixes Heften and Hexen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Heften
5 ch
Hexen

Why the eye confuses Heften with Hexen

A purely visual mix-up. Heften ([ˈhɛftn̩]) 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 42007, 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]. 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 42007, this pair ranks #1,462,428 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Heften vs Hexen

Shared letters: ehn. Private to "Heften": ft. Private to "Hexen": x.

"Heften" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Hexen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Heftenehften · hefetn · hefften · heftenn · heftne · heftten · hetfen · hfeten
  • Hexenehxen · heexn · hexenn · hexne · hexxen · hhexen · hxeen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Heften" for "Hexen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhɛftn̩] versus [hɛˈkseːn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Heften" or "Hexen" show up more?
"Hexen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,895 in our German list, against #30,112 for "Heften". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Heften" and "Hexen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Heften" 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 #1,462,428 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Heften" and "Hexen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Häuten vs Heften". 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 #1,462,428 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