Which to use
“heile” and “heilig” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,933
- “heile” frequency rank
- #8,075
- “heilig” frequency rank
- 26008
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | heile | heilig |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs heil | göttlich, verehrenswürdig, sehr fromm, geweiht |
Where the eye mixes heile and heilig
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. heile runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against heilig's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses heile with heilig
A purely visual mix-up. heile ([ˈhaɪ̯lə]) and heilig ([ˈhaɪ̯lɪç]) 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 26008, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
heile is recorded at frequency rank #17,933, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈhaɪ̯lə]. heilig is at rank #8,075, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈhaɪ̯lɪç].
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 26008, this pair ranks #1,824,636 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of heile vs heilig
Shared letters: ehil. Private to "heile": -. Private to "heilig": g.
"heile" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "heilig" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "heile" and "heilig" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "heile" vs "heilig" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "heile" and "heilig" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "heile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "heilig" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,824,636 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "heile" and "heilig" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "heel vs heile". 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 #1,824,636 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.