HeidenvsHeimeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#17,321
“Heiden” frequency rank
#33,105
“Heime” frequency rank
50426
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Heiden Heime
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Heide Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Heim

Where the eye mixes Heiden and Heime

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Heiden runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against Heime's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Heiden
5 ch
Heime

Visual trap between Heiden and Heime

A purely visual mix-up. Heiden ([ˈhaɪ̯dən]) and Heime ([ˈhaɪ̯mə]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50426, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Heiden is recorded at frequency rank #17,321, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhaɪ̯dən]. Heime is at rank #33,105, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhaɪ̯mə].

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 50426, this pair ranks #1,174,131 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Heiden vs Heime

Shared letters: ehi. Private to "Heiden": dn. Private to "Heime": m.

"Heiden" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "Heime" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Heiden ← ehiden · hedien · heidden · heidenn · heidne · heiedn · hheiden · hieden
  • Heime ← ehime · heiem · heimme · hemie · hheime · hieme

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Heiden" for "Heime" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhaɪ̯dən] versus [ˈhaɪ̯mə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Heiden" vs "Heime" - which ranks higher?
"Heiden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,321 in our German list, against #33,105 for "Heime". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Heiden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Heime" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,174,131 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Heiden" and "Heime" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Heime vs Hemer". 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 #1,174,131 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