heftigemvsheftigenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#46,018
“heftigem” frequency rank
#8,074
“heftigen” frequency rank
54092
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature heftigem heftigen
Definition Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs heftig Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs heftig

Where the eye mixes heftigem and heftigen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. heftigem and heftigen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
heftigem
8 ch
heftigen

Why the eye confuses heftigem with heftigen

A purely visual mix-up. heftigem ([ˈhɛftɪɡəm]) 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 a single letter - m in “heftigem” becomes n in “heftigen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54092, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

heftigem is recorded at frequency rank #46,018, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈhɛftɪɡəm]. 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 54092, this pair ranks #1,032,438 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of heftigem vs heftigen

Shared letters: efghit. Private to "heftigem": m. Private to "heftigen": n.

"heftigem" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "heftigen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • heftigemehftigem · hefftigem · hefitgem · heftgiem · heftiegm · heftigemm · heftiggem · heftigme
  • heftigenehftigen · hefftigen · hefitgen · heftgien · heftiegn · heftigenn · heftiggen · heftigne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "heftigem" for "heftigen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhɛftɪɡəm] versus [ˈhɛftɪɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "heftigem" or "heftigen" show up more?
"heftigen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,074 in our German list, against #46,018 for "heftigem". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "heftigem" 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 #1,032,438 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "heftigem" and "heftigen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "heftigem vs heutigem". 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 #1,032,438 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