heilevsheiserConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#17,933
“heile” frequency rank
#37,562
“heiser” frequency rank
55495
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature heile heiser
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs heil rau und/oder tonlos klingend, zumeist durch Überanstrengung oder Krankheit

Where the eye mixes heile and heiser

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

5 ch
heile
6 ch
heiser

Why the eye confuses heile with heiser

A purely visual mix-up. heile ([ˈhaɪ̯lə]) and heiser ([ˈhaɪ̯zɐ]) 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 55495, 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]. heiser is at rank #37,562, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈhaɪ̯zɐ].

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 55495, this pair ranks #977,343 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of heile vs heiser

Shared letters: ehi. Private to "heile": l. Private to "heiser": rs.

"heile" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "heiser" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • heile ← ehile · heiel · heille · helie · hheile · hiele
  • heiser ← ehiser · heiesr · heiserr · heisre · heisser · hesier · hheiser · hieser

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "heile" for "heiser" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhaɪ̯lə] versus [ˈhaɪ̯zɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "heile" or "heiser"?
"heile" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,933 in our German list, against #37,562 for "heiser". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "heile" and "heiser" 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 "heiser" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #977,343 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "heile" and "heiser" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "heiser 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 #977,343 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