HeimenvshemmenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Heimen is a noun, hemmen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Heimen” is a noun and “hemmen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,157
“Heimen” frequency rank
#34,161
“hemmen” frequency rank
68318
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Heimen hemmen
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Heim etwas hindern

Where the eye mixes Heimen and hemmen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Heimen (CVVCVC) and hemmen (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
Heimen
6 ch
hemmen

Look-alike desk: Heimen vs hemmen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Heimen is [ˈhaɪ̯mən] while hemmen is [ˈhɛmən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - i in “Heimen” becomes m in “hemmen”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68318, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Heimen is recorded at frequency rank #34,157, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhaɪ̯mən]. hemmen is at rank #34,161, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhɛmən].

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 68318, this pair ranks #511,630 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Heimen vs hemmen

Shared letters: ehmn. Private to "Heimen": i. Private to "hemmen": -.

"Heimen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "hemmen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Heimen ← ehimen · heiemn · heimenn · heimmen · heimne · hemien · hheimen · hiemen
  • hemmen ← ehmmen · hememn · hemen · hemmenn · hemmne · hhemmen · hmemen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Heimen" for "hemmen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Heimen" is a noun and "hemmen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Heimen" or "hemmen"?
"Heimen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,157 in our German list, against #34,161 for "hemmen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Heimen" and "hemmen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Heimen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hemmen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #511,630 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Heimen" and "hemmen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hemer vs hemmen". 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 #511,630 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list