HemmervsHenkerTell them apart

Which to use

“Hemmer” and “Henker” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#43,955
“Hemmer” frequency rank
#19,602
“Henker” frequency rank
63557
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Hemmer Henker
Definition etwas, das eine Reaktion verhindert oder zumindest abbremst jemand, der Hinrichtungen vollzieht

Where the eye mixes Hemmer and Henker

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Hemmer and Henker follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
Hemmer
6 ch
Henker

Why the eye confuses Hemmer with Henker

A purely visual mix-up. Hemmer ([ˈhɛmɐ]) and Henker ([ˈhɛŋkɐ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63557, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Hemmer is recorded at frequency rank #43,955, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɛmɐ]. Henker is at rank #19,602, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɛŋkɐ].

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 63557, this pair ranks #672,551 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Hemmer vs Henker

Shared letters: ehr. Private to "Hemmer": m. Private to "Henker": kn.

"Hemmer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Henker" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Hemmer ← ehmmer · hememr · hemmerr · hemmre · hhemmer · hmemer
  • Henker ← ehnker · hekner · henekr · henkerr · henkker · henkre · hennker · hhenker

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Hemmer" and "Henker" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhɛmɐ] versus [ˈhɛŋkɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Hemmer" vs "Henker" - which ranks higher?
"Henker" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,602 in our German list, against #43,955 for "Hemmer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Hemmer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Henker" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #672,551 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Hemmer" and "Henker" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hemer vs Hemmer". 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 #672,551 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