HeldvshexWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#4,618
“Held” frequency rank
#35,833
“hex” frequency rank
40451
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Held hex
Definition jemand, der sich besonders mutig oder erfolgreich für andere oder für eine Sache einsetzt oder bei einem Einsatz umkommt 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs hexen

Where the eye mixes Held and hex

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Held runs 4 letters (CVCC) against hex's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Held
3 ch
hex

Why the eye confuses Held with hex

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Held is [hɛlt] while hex is [hɛks]. 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 40451, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Held is recorded at frequency rank #4,618, classified as anoun, pronounced [hɛlt]. hex is at rank #35,833, tagged as averb, pronounced [hɛks].

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 40451, this pair ranks #1,508,120 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Held vs hex

Shared letters: eh. Private to "Held": dl. Private to "hex": x.

"Held" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "hex" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Held ← ehld · hedl · heldd · helld · hheld · hled

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Held" and "hex" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Held" is a noun and "hex" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Held" or "hex"?
"Held" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,618 in our German list, against #35,833 for "hex". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Held" and "hex" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Held" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hex" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,508,120 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Held" and "hex" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "heel vs hex". 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 #1,508,120 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