heidivsHerdeTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#8,878
“heidi” frequency rank
#12,505
“Herde” frequency rank
21383
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature heidi Herde
Definition Kommentar, wenn etwas sehr schnell geht 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 heidi and Herde

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

5 ch
heidi
5 ch
Herde

Why the eye confuses heidi with Herde

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: heidi is [haɪ̯ˈdiː] while Herde is [ˈheːɐ̯də]. 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 (intj vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21383, 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]. 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 21383, this pair ranks #1,886,923 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of heidi vs Herde

Shared letters: deh. Private to "heidi": i. Private to "Herde": r.

"heidi" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "Herde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • heidiehidi · hedii · heiddi · heiid · hheidi · hiedi
  • Herdeehrde · hedre · herdde · hered · herrde · hherde · hrede

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "heidi" for "Herde" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "heidi" is an intj and "Herde" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "heidi" or "Herde" show up more?
"heidi" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,878 in our German list, against #12,505 for "Herde". 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 "heidi" 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 #1,886,923 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "heidi" and "Herde" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hardi vs Herde". 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 #1,886,923 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