Which to use
“heftig” and “heftigen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,660
- “heftig” frequency rank
- #8,074
- “heftigen” frequency rank
- 11734
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | heftig | heftigen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | mit großer Intensität; sehr stark | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs heftig |
Where the eye mixes heftig and heftigen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. heftig runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against heftigen's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between heftig and heftigen
A purely visual mix-up. heftig ([ˈhɛftɪç]) and heftigen ([ˈhɛftɪɡn̩]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “heftig” sits inside “heftigen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11734, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
heftig is recorded at frequency rank #3,660, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈhɛftɪç]. heftigen is at rank #8,074, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈhɛftɪɡn̩].
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 11734, this pair ranks #1,968,221 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of heftig vs heftigen
Shared letters: efghit. Private to "heftig": -. Private to "heftigen": n.
"heftig" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "heftigen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "heftig" for "heftigen" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "heftig" or "heftigen" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "heftig" and "heftigen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "heftig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "heftigen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,968,221 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "heftig" and "heftigen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "heftigem vs heftigen". 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 #1,968,221 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.