Which to use
“helfen” is a verb and “holden” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #569
- “helfen” frequency rank
- #27,353
- “holden” frequency rank
- 27922
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | helfen | holden |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | (mit Dativ, seltener mit Akkusativ) jemandem das Tun einer Sache durch Übernehmen bestimmter Teile oder einen Ratschlag ermöglichen oder erleichtern | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs hold |
Where the eye mixes helfen and holden
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. helfen and holden follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between helfen and holden
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: helfen is [ˈhɛlfn̩] while holden is [ˈhɔldn̩]. 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 27922, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
helfen is recorded at frequency rank #569, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhɛlfn̩]. holden is at rank #27,353, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈhɔldn̩].
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 27922, this pair ranks #1,793,620 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of helfen vs holden
Shared letters: ehln. Private to "helfen": f. Private to "holden": do.
"helfen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "holden" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "helfen" and "holden" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "helfen" or "holden"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "helfen" and "holden" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "helfen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "holden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,793,620 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "helfen" and "holden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "holde vs holden". 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 #1,793,620 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.