Which to use
“heftigen” is an adjective and “heiligen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,074
- “heftigen” frequency rank
- #1,971
- “heiligen” frequency rank
- 10045
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | heftigen | heiligen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs heftig | jemanden oder etwas heilig machen, weihen |
Where the eye mixes heftigen and heiligen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. heftigen (CVCCVCVC) and heiligen (CVVCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: heftigen vs heiligen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: heftigen is [ˈhɛftɪɡn̩] while heiligen is [ˈhaɪ̯lɪɡn̩]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10045, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
heftigen is recorded at frequency rank #8,074, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈhɛftɪɡn̩]. heiligen is at rank #1,971, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhaɪ̯lɪɡn̩].
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 10045, this pair ranks #1,977,049 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of heftigen vs heiligen
Shared letters: eghin. Private to "heftigen": ft. Private to "heiligen": l.
"heftigen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "heiligen" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "heftigen" and "heiligen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "heftigen" or "heiligen"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "heftigen" and "heiligen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "heftigen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "heiligen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,977,049 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "heftigen" and "heiligen" 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 #1,977,049 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.