hemmtvshetWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: hemmt is a verb, het is a determiner, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hemmt” is a verb and “het” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#31,607
“hemmt” frequency rank
#16,178
“het” frequency rank
47785
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hemmt het
Definition 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs hemmen definiter (bestimmter) Artikel neutrum; das

Where the eye mixes hemmt and het

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
hemmt
3 ch
het

Why the eye confuses hemmt with het

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hemmt is [hɛmt] while het is [(h)ət]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47785, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hemmt is recorded at frequency rank #31,607, classified as averb, pronounced [hɛmt]. het is at rank #16,178, tagged as adet, pronounced [(h)ət].

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 47785, this pair ranks #1,272,078 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hemmt vs het

Shared letters: eht. Private to "hemmt": m. Private to "het": -.

"hemmt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "het" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hemmtehmmt · hemmtt · hemt · hemtm · hhemmt · hmemt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "hemmt" for "het" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hemmt" is a verb and "het" a determiner, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "hemmt" or "het" show up more?
"het" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,178 in our German list, against #31,607 for "hemmt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "hemmt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "het" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,272,078 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hemmt" and "het" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hemer vs hemmt". 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 #1,272,078 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