Which to use
“heilen” is a verb and “heilig” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,930
- “heilen” frequency rank
- #8,075
- “heilig” frequency rank
- 16005
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | heilen | heilig |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | jemanden gesund machen, eine Krankheit, ein Leiden beseitigen, heil machen | göttlich, verehrenswürdig, sehr fromm, geweiht |
Where the eye mixes heilen and heilig
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. heilen and heilig follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between heilen and heilig
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: heilen is [ˈhaɪ̯lən] while heilig is [ˈhaɪ̯lɪç]. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16005, 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]. 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 16005, this pair ranks #1,939,397 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of heilen vs heilig
Shared letters: ehil. Private to "heilen": n. Private to "heilig": g.
"heilen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "heilig" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "heilen" and "heilig" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "heilen" or "heilig" show up more?
Useful next steps
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 "heilig" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,939,397 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "heilen" and "heilig" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "heiklen vs heilen". 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 #1,939,397 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.