Which to use
“helfe” is a verb and “holde” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,563
- “helfe” frequency rank
- #45,352
- “holde” frequency rank
- 54915
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | helfe | holde |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs helfen | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs hold |
Where the eye mixes helfe and holde
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. helfe and holde follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: helfe vs holde
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: helfe is [ˈhɛlfə] while holde is [ˈhɔldə]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54915, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
helfe is recorded at frequency rank #9,563, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhɛlfə]. holde is at rank #45,352, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈhɔldə].
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 54915, this pair ranks #1,000,006 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of helfe vs holde
Shared letters: ehl. Private to "helfe": f. Private to "holde": do.
"helfe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "holde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "helfe" and "holde" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "helfe" or "holde"?
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 "helfe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "holde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,000,006 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "helfe" and "holde" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hola vs holde". 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 #1,000,006 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.