heiservsHemmerWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: heiser is a adjective, Hemmer is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“heiser” is an adjective and “Hemmer” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37,562
“heiser” frequency rank
#43,955
“Hemmer” frequency rank
81517
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature heiser Hemmer
Definition rau und/oder tonlos klingend, zumeist durch Überanstrengung oder Krankheit etwas, das eine Reaktion verhindert oder zumindest abbremst

Where the eye mixes heiser and Hemmer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
heiser
6 ch
Hemmer

Why the eye confuses heiser with Hemmer

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: heiser is [ˈhaɪ̯zɐ] while Hemmer is [ˈhɛmɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81517, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

heiser is recorded at frequency rank #37,562, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈhaɪ̯zɐ]. Hemmer is at rank #43,955, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɛmɐ].

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 81517, this pair ranks #174,286 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of heiser vs Hemmer

Shared letters: ehr. Private to "heiser": is. Private to "Hemmer": m.

"heiser" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "Hemmer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • heiserehiser · heiesr · heiserr · heisre · heisser · hesier · hheiser · hieser
  • Hemmerehmmer · hememr · hemmerr · hemmre · hhemmer · hmemer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "heiser" and "Hemmer" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "heiser" is an adjective and "Hemmer" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "heiser" or "Hemmer" show up more?
"heiser" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,562 in our German list, against #43,955 for "Hemmer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "heiser" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Hemmer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #174,286 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "heiser" and "Hemmer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hemer vs Hemmer". 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 #174,286 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