Which to use
“Heilige” is a noun and “heiligen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,127
- “Heilige” frequency rank
- #1,971
- “heiligen” frequency rank
- 5098
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Heilige | heiligen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | weibliche, als heilig verehrte Person | jemanden oder etwas heilig machen, weihen |
Where the eye mixes Heilige and heiligen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. Heilige runs 7 letters (CVVCVCV) against heiligen's 8 (CVVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses Heilige with heiligen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Heilige is [ˈhaɪ̯lɪɡə] while heiligen is [ˈhaɪ̯lɪɡn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Heilige” sits inside “heiligen”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5098, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Heilige is recorded at frequency rank #3,127, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhaɪ̯lɪɡə]. 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 5098, this pair ranks #1,995,799 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Heilige vs heiligen
Shared letters: eghil. Private to "Heilige": -. Private to "heiligen": n.
"Heilige" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV · "heiligen" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Heilige" and "heiligen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "Heilige" or "heiligen" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "Heilige" 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 #1,995,799 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Heilige" and "heiligen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "heiligen vs heurigen". 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 #1,995,799 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.