Which to use
“heilig” and “heiliges” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,075
- “heilig” frequency rank
- #22,009
- “heiliges” frequency rank
- 30084
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | heilig | heiliges |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | göttlich, verehrenswürdig, sehr fromm, geweiht | Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs heilig |
Where the eye mixes heilig and heiliges
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. heilig runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against heiliges's 8 (CVVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between heilig and heiliges
A purely visual mix-up. heilig ([ˈhaɪ̯lɪç]) and heiliges ([ˈhaɪ̯lɪɡəs]) 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 extra letter(s) - “heilig” sits inside “heiliges”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30084, 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]. heiliges is at rank #22,009, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈhaɪ̯lɪɡəs].
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 30084, this pair ranks #1,754,730 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of heilig vs heiliges
Shared letters: eghil. Private to "heilig": -. Private to "heiliges": s.
"heilig" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "heiliges" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "heilig" for "heiliges" ever safe?
Frequency check: "heilig" vs "heiliges" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "heilig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "heiliges" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,754,730 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "heilig" and "heiliges" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "heftiges vs heiliges". 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 #1,754,730 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.