heimischvsheimischeTell them apart

Which to use

“heimisch” and “heimische” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#18,920
“heimisch” frequency rank
#14,092
“heimische” frequency rank
33012
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature heimisch heimische
Definition zur Heimat gehörend; zum Land gehörig Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs heimisch

Where the eye mixes heimisch and heimische

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. heimisch runs 8 letters (CVVCVCCC) against heimische's 9 (CVVCVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
heimisch
9 ch
heimische

Why the eye confuses heimisch with heimische

A purely visual mix-up. heimisch ([ˈhaɪ̯mɪʃ]) and heimische ([ˈhaɪ̯mɪʃə]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “heimisch” sits inside “heimische”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33012, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

heimisch is recorded at frequency rank #18,920, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈhaɪ̯mɪʃ]. heimische is at rank #14,092, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈhaɪ̯mɪʃə].

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 33012, this pair ranks #1,695,180 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of heimisch vs heimische

Shared letters: cehims. Private to "heimisch": -. Private to "heimische": -.

"heimisch" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCCC  ·  "heimische" · 9 letters · shape CVVCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • heimisch ← ehimisch · heiimsch · heimicsh · heimiscch · heimischh · heimishc · heimissch · heimmisch
  • heimische ← ehimische · heiimsche · heimicshe · heimiscche · heimisceh · heimischhe · heimishce · heimissche

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "heimisch" and "heimische" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhaɪ̯mɪʃ] versus [ˈhaɪ̯mɪʃə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "heimisch" or "heimische"?
"heimische" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,092 in our German list, against #18,920 for "heimisch". 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 "heimisch" and "heimische" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "heimisch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "heimische" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,695,180 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "heimisch" and "heimische" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "heidnische vs heimische". 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 #1,695,180 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