Which to use
“hel” is a noun and “hielt” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #47,474
- “hel” frequency rank
- #1,392
- “hielt” frequency rank
- 48866
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hel | hielt |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Helium | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs halten |
Where the eye mixes hel and hielt
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. hel runs 3 letters (CVC) against hielt's 5 (CVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: hel vs hielt
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hel is [xɛl] while hielt is [hiːlt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 48866, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hel is recorded at frequency rank #47,474, classified as anoun, pronounced [xɛl]. hielt is at rank #1,392, tagged as averb, pronounced [hiːlt].
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 48866, this pair ranks #1,232,660 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hel vs hielt
Shared letters: ehl. Private to "hel": -. Private to "hielt": it.
"hel" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "hielt" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- hielt ← hhielt · hiellt · hieltt · hietl · hilet · ihelt
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hel" for "hielt" ever safe?
Frequency check: "hel" vs "hielt" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "hel" and "hielt" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hielt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,232,660 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hel" and "hielt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "heel vs hel". 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 #1,232,660 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.