Which to use
“hegte” is a verb and “Hirte” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,210
- “hegte” frequency rank
- #27,772
- “Hirte” frequency rank
- 75982
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hegte | Hirte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs hegen | Besitzer und Hüter einer Tierherde |
Where the eye mixes hegte and Hirte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. hegte and Hirte follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses hegte with Hirte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hegte is [ˈheːktə] while Hirte is [ˈhɪʁtə]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75982, 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]. Hirte is at rank #27,772, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɪʁtə].
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 75982, this pair ranks #294,605 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of hegte vs Hirte
Shared letters: eht. Private to "hegte": g. Private to "Hirte": ir.
"hegte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "Hirte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "hegte" and "Hirte" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "hegte" or "Hirte"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "hegte" and "Hirte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hegte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Hirte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #294,605 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hegte" and "Hirte" 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 #294,605 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.