Which to use
“heilig” is an adjective and “Heilige” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,075
- “heilig” frequency rank
- #3,127
- “Heilige” frequency rank
- 11202
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | heilig | Heilige |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | göttlich, verehrenswürdig, sehr fromm, geweiht | weibliche, als heilig verehrte Person |
Where the eye mixes heilig and Heilige
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. heilig runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against Heilige's 7 (CVVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: heilig vs Heilige
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: heilig is [ˈhaɪ̯lɪç] while Heilige is [ˈhaɪ̯lɪɡə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “heilig” sits inside “Heilige”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11202, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
heilig is recorded at frequency rank #8,075, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈhaɪ̯lɪç]. Heilige is at rank #3,127, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhaɪ̯lɪɡə].
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 11202, this pair ranks #1,971,129 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of heilig vs Heilige
Shared letters: eghil. Private to "heilig": -. Private to "Heilige": -.
"heilig" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "Heilige" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "heilig" for "Heilige" ever safe?
Which is more common, "heilig" or "Heilige"?
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 "heilig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Heilige" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,971,129 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "heilig" and "Heilige" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "heilig vs Heini". 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 #1,971,129 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.