Which to use
“heilen” is a verb and “heilende” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,930
- “heilen” frequency rank
- #41,235
- “heilende” frequency rank
- 49165
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | heilen | heilende |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | jemanden gesund machen, eine Krankheit, ein Leiden beseitigen, heil machen | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs heilend |
Where the eye mixes heilen and heilende
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. heilen runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against heilende's 8 (CVVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between heilen and heilende
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: heilen is [ˈhaɪ̯lən] while heilende is [ˈhaɪ̯ləndə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “heilen” sits inside “heilende”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49165, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
heilen is recorded at frequency rank #7,930, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhaɪ̯lən]. heilende is at rank #41,235, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈhaɪ̯ləndə].
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 49165, this pair ranks #1,221,713 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of heilen vs heilende
Shared letters: ehiln. Private to "heilen": -. Private to "heilende": d.
"heilen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "heilende" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "heilen" for "heilende" ever safe?
Frequency check: "heilen" vs "heilende" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "heilen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "heilende" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,221,713 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "heilen" and "heilende" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "heilende vs helfende". 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 #1,221,713 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.