Which to use
“hegte” and “henke” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,210
- “hegte” frequency rank
- #35,229
- “henke” frequency rank
- 83439
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hegte | henke |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs hegen | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs henken |
Where the eye mixes hegte and henke
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. hegte and henke follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between hegte and henke
A purely visual mix-up. hegte ([ˈheːktə]) and henke ([ˈhɛŋkə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83439, 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]. henke is at rank #35,229, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhɛŋkə].
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 83439, this pair ranks #139,932 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of hegte vs henke
Shared letters: eh. Private to "hegte": gt. Private to "henke": kn.
"hegte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "henke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hegte" and "henke" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "hegte" or "henke" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "hegte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "henke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #139,932 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hegte" and "henke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hegte vs Hengste". 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 #139,932 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.