HeidenvsHerdeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#17,321
“Heiden” frequency rank
#12,505
“Herde” frequency rank
29826
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Heiden Herde
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Heide Gruppe von meist größeren Säugetieren der gleichen Art, die im losen oder sozialisierten Verband (mit Ausbildung einer Rangordnung) leben; Gruppen von flugunfähigen Vögeln und Gruppen verschiedener Arten kommen ebenfalls in Herden vor

Where the eye mixes Heiden and Herde

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Heiden
5 ch
Herde

Why the eye confuses Heiden with Herde

A purely visual mix-up. Heiden ([ˈhaɪ̯dən]) and Herde ([ˈheːɐ̯də]) 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 29826, 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]. Herde is at rank #12,505, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈheːɐ̯də].

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 29826, this pair ranks #1,759,537 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Heiden vs Herde

Shared letters: deh. Private to "Heiden": in. Private to "Herde": r.

"Heiden" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "Herde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Heidenehiden · hedien · heidden · heidenn · heidne · heiedn · hheiden · hieden
  • Herdeehrde · hedre · herdde · hered · herrde · hherde · hrede

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Heiden" for "Herde" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhaɪ̯dən] versus [ˈheːɐ̯də]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Heiden" vs "Herde" - which ranks higher?
"Herde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,505 in our German list, against #17,321 for "Heiden". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Heiden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Herde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,759,537 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Heiden" and "Herde" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Heiden vs hide". 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 #1,759,537 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