hegtevsheiterWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: hegte is a verb, heiter is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hegte” is a verb and “heiter” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,210
“hegte” frequency rank
#17,323
“heiter” frequency rank
65533
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hegte heiter
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs hegen eine gute Stimmung oder gute Laune betreffend, lustig, humorvoll; innere Ausgeglichenheit haben

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hegte and heiter apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
hegte
6 ch
heiter

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hegte is [ˈheːktə] while heiter is [ˈhaɪ̯tɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65533, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hegte is recorded at frequency rank #48,210, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈheːktə]. heiter is at rank #17,323, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈhaɪ̯tɐ].

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 65533, this pair ranks #603,590 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hegte vs heiter

Shared letters: eht. Private to "hegte": g. Private to "heiter": ir.

"hegte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "heiter" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hegteehgte · heget · heggte · hegtte · hetge · hgete · hhegte
  • heiterehiter · heietr · heiterr · heitre · heitter · hetier · hheiter · hieter

Frequency comparison

hegte#48,210
heiter#17,323

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hegte" and "heiter" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hegte" is a verb and "heiter" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hegte" or "heiter"?
"heiter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,323 in our German list, against #48,210 for "hegte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering hegte vs heiter

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “hegte”; for an adjective, it's “heiter”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “hegte” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list