Which to use
“herbe” is an adjective and “hetze” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #32,086
- “herbe” frequency rank
- #9,045
- “hetze” frequency rank
- 41131
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | herbe | hetze |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs herb | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs hetzen |
Where the eye mixes herbe and hetze
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: herbe vs hetze
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: herbe is [ˈhɛʁbə] while hetze is [ˈhɛt͡sə]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41131, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
herbe is recorded at frequency rank #32,086, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈhɛʁbə]. hetze is at rank #9,045, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhɛt͡sə].
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 41131, this pair ranks #1,488,418 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of herbe vs hetze
Shared letters: eh. Private to "herbe": br. Private to "hetze": tz.
"herbe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "hetze" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "herbe" and "hetze" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "herbe" or "hetze" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "herbe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hetze" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,488,418 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "herbe" and "hetze" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hegte vs herbe". 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 #1,488,418 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.