Which to use
“heimlich” and “heimliche” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,378
- “heimlich” frequency rank
- #18,280
- “heimliche” frequency rank
- 23658
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | heimlich | heimliche |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | im Verborgenen, ohne das Wissen anderer | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs heimlich |
Where the eye mixes heimlich and heimliche
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: heimlich vs heimliche
A purely visual mix-up. heimlich ([ˈhaɪ̯mlɪç]) and heimliche ([ˈhaɪ̯mlɪçə]) 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) - “heimlich” sits inside “heimliche”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23658, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
heimlich is recorded at frequency rank #5,378, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈhaɪ̯mlɪç]. heimliche is at rank #18,280, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈhaɪ̯mlɪçə].
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 23658, this pair ranks #1,858,367 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of heimlich vs heimliche
Shared letters: cehilm. Private to "heimlich": -. Private to "heimliche": -.
"heimlich" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC · "heimliche" · 9 letters · shape CVVCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "heimlich" and "heimliche" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "heimlich" vs "heimliche" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "heimlich" and "heimliche" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "heimlich" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "heimliche" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,858,367 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "heimlich" and "heimliche" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "heimliche vs heimlicher". 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 #1,858,367 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.