heizenvsHemdenTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#15,911
“heizen” frequency rank
#15,389
“Hemden” frequency rank
31300
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature heizen Hemden
Definition mit Wärme oder Hitze versorgen Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Hemd

Where the eye mixes heizen and Hemden

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

6 ch
heizen
6 ch
Hemden

Look-alike desk: heizen vs Hemden

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: heizen is [ˈhaɪ̯t͡sn̩] while Hemden is [ˈhɛmdn̩]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31300, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

heizen is recorded at frequency rank #15,911, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhaɪ̯t͡sn̩]. Hemden is at rank #15,389, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɛmdn̩].

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 31300, this pair ranks #1,730,905 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of heizen vs Hemden

Shared letters: ehn. Private to "heizen": iz. Private to "Hemden": dm.

"heizen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "Hemden" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • heizenehizen · heiezn · heizenn · heizne · heizzen · hezien · hheizen · hiezen
  • Hemdenehmden · hedmen · hemdden · hemdenn · hemdne · hemedn · hemmden · hhemden

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "heizen" for "Hemden" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "heizen" is a verb and "Hemden" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "heizen" vs "Hemden" - which ranks higher?
"Hemden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,389 in our German list, against #15,911 for "heizen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "heizen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Hemden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,730,905 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "heizen" and "Hemden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hemden vs Hemer". 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 #1,730,905 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