Which to use
“heftige” is an adjective and “Heilige” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,389
- “heftige” frequency rank
- #3,127
- “Heilige” frequency rank
- 11516
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | heftige | Heilige |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs heftig | weibliche, als heilig verehrte Person |
Where the eye mixes heftige and Heilige
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. heftige (CVCCVCV) and Heilige (CVVCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses heftige with Heilige
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: heftige is [ˈhɛftɪɡə] while Heilige is [ˈhaɪ̯lɪɡə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11516, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
heftige is recorded at frequency rank #8,389, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈhɛftɪɡə]. Heilige is at rank #3,127, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhaɪ̯lɪɡə].
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 11516, this pair ranks #1,969,485 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of heftige vs Heilige
Shared letters: eghi. Private to "heftige": ft. Private to "Heilige": l.
"heftige" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "Heilige" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "heftige" and "Heilige" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "heftige" vs "Heilige" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "heftige" and "Heilige" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "heftige" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Heilige" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,969,485 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "heftige" and "Heilige" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "heftige vs heftigem". 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 #1,969,485 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.