Which to use
“heilen” and “heiligen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,930
- “heilen” frequency rank
- #1,971
- “heiligen” frequency rank
- 9901
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | heilen | heiligen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | jemanden gesund machen, eine Krankheit, ein Leiden beseitigen, heil machen | jemanden oder etwas heilig machen, weihen |
Where the eye mixes heilen and heiligen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. heilen runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against heiligen's 8 (CVVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: heilen vs heiligen
A purely visual mix-up. heilen ([ˈhaɪ̯lən]) and heiligen ([ˈhaɪ̯lɪɡn̩]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9901, 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]. heiligen is at rank #1,971, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhaɪ̯lɪɡn̩].
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 9901, this pair ranks #1,977,751 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of heilen vs heiligen
Shared letters: ehiln. Private to "heilen": -. Private to "heiligen": g.
"heilen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "heiligen" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "heilen" and "heiligen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "heilen" or "heiligen" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "heilen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "heiligen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,977,751 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "heilen" and "heiligen" 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 #1,977,751 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.