hellevshildeTell them apart

Quick tell: helle is a adjective, hilde is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“helle” is an adjective and “hilde” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,335
“helle” frequency rank
#20,294
“hilde” frequency rank
27629
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature helle hilde
Definition mit einem gut funktionierenden Verstand ausgestattet, schlau 2. Person Singular Imperativ des Verbs hildan

Letter map: helle vs hilde

Shared letters muted; letters that set helle and hilde apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
helle
5 ch
hilde

Role in the sentence - helle and hilde

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: helle is anadjective and hildeaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27629, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

helle is recorded at frequency rank #7,335, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈhɛlə]. hilde is at rank #20,294, tagged as averb, pronounced […].

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 27629, this pair ranks #1,798,638 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of helle vs hilde

Shared letters: ehl. Private to "helle": -. Private to "hilde": di.

"helle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "hilde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • helleehlle · hele · helel · hhelle · hlele
  • hildehhilde · hidle · hildde · hiled · hillde · hlide · ihlde

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "helle" and "hilde" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "helle" is an adjective and "hilde" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "helle" vs "hilde" - which ranks higher?
"helle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,335 in our German list, against #20,294 for "hilde". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "helle" and "hilde". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "helle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hilde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,798,638 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "helle" and "hilde" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hilde vs puzzles". 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 #1,798,638 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