HeldenvsholenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#3,259
“Helden” frequency rank
#1,328
“holen” frequency rank
4587
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Helden holen
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Held etwas oder jemanden herbeischaffen

Where the eye mixes Helden and holen

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

6 ch
Helden
5 ch
holen

Look-alike desk: Helden vs holen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Helden is [ˈhɛldn̩] while holen is [ˈhoːlən]. 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 4587, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Helden is recorded at frequency rank #3,259, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɛldn̩]. holen is at rank #1,328, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhoːlən].

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 4587, this pair ranks #1,997,278 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Helden vs holen

Shared letters: ehln. Private to "Helden": d. Private to "holen": o.

"Helden" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "holen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Heldenehlden · hedlen · heldden · heldenn · heldne · heledn · hellden · hhelden
  • holenhholen · hloen · hoeln · holenn · hollen · holne · ohlen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Helden" for "holen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Helden" is a noun and "holen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Helden" vs "holen" - which ranks higher?
"holen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,328 in our German list, against #3,259 for "Helden". 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 "Helden" and "holen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Helden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "holen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,997,278 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Helden" and "holen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hola vs holen". 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 #1,997,278 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