HeinzevshenkeWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#35,829
“Heinze” frequency rank
#35,229
“henke” frequency rank
71058
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Heinze henke
Definition Holzgerüst zum Trocknen des Heus 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs henken

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Heinze and henke apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
Heinze
5 ch
henke

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Heinze is [ˈhaɪ̯nt͡sə] while henke is [ˈhɛŋkə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71058, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Heinze is recorded at frequency rank #35,829, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhaɪ̯nt͡sə]. henke is at rank #35,229, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhɛŋkə].

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 71058, this pair ranks #427,995 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Heinze vs henke

Shared letters: ehn. Private to "Heinze": iz. Private to "henke": k.

"Heinze" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "henke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Heinzeehinze · heinez · heinnze · heinzze · henize · hheinze · hienze
  • henkeehnke · hekne · henek · henkke · hennke · hhenke · hneke

Frequency comparison

Heinze#35,829
henke#35,229

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Heinze" and "henke" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Heinze" is a noun and "henke" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Heinze" or "henke"?
"henke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,229 in our German list, against #35,829 for "Heinze". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Heinze vs henke

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Heinze”; for a verb, it's “henke”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Heinze” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list