heidivsHeldWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: heidi is a intj, Held is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“heidi” is an intj and “Held” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,878
“heidi” frequency rank
#4,618
“Held” frequency rank
13496
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature heidi Held
Definition Kommentar, wenn etwas sehr schnell geht jemand, der sich besonders mutig oder erfolgreich für andere oder für eine Sache einsetzt oder bei einem Einsatz umkommt

Where the eye mixes heidi and Held

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
heidi
4 ch
Held

Visual trap between heidi and Held

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: heidi is [haɪ̯ˈdiː] while Held is [hɛlt]. 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 (intj vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13496, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

heidi is recorded at frequency rank #8,878, classified as anintj, pronounced [haɪ̯ˈdiː]. Held is at rank #4,618, tagged as anoun, pronounced [hɛlt].

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 13496, this pair ranks #1,957,619 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of heidi vs Held

Shared letters: deh. Private to "heidi": i. Private to "Held": l.

"heidi" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "Held" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • heidiehidi · hedii · heiddi · heiid · hheidi · hiedi
  • Heldehld · hedl · heldd · helld · hheld · hled

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "heidi" for "Held" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "heidi" is an intj and "Held" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "heidi" or "Held"?
"Held" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,618 in our German list, against #8,878 for "heidi". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "heidi" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Held" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,957,619 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "heidi" and "Held" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hardi vs heidi". 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 #1,957,619 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