heizenvshetzeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#15,911
“heizen” frequency rank
#9,045
“hetze” frequency rank
24956
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature heizen hetze
Definition mit Wärme oder Hitze versorgen 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs hetzen

Where the eye mixes heizen and hetze

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

6 ch
heizen
5 ch
hetze

Visual trap between heizen and hetze

A purely visual mix-up. heizen ([ˈhaɪ̯t͡sn̩]) and hetze ([ˈhɛt͡sə]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24956, 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]. hetze is at rank #9,045, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhɛt͡sə].

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 24956, this pair ranks #1,840,193 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of heizen vs hetze

Shared letters: ehz. Private to "heizen": in. Private to "hetze": t.

"heizen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "hetze" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • heizenehizen · heiezn · heizenn · heizne · heizzen · hezien · hheizen · hiezen
  • hetzeehtze · hetez · hettze · hetzze · hezte · hhetze · hteze

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "heizen" and "hetze" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhaɪ̯t͡sn̩] versus [ˈhɛt͡sə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "heizen" vs "hetze" - which ranks higher?
"hetze" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,045 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

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "heizen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hetze" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,840,193 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "heizen" and "hetze" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "haze vs hetze". 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 #1,840,193 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