herbervsHexerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: herber is a adjective, Hexer is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“herber” is an adjective and “Hexer” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#39,991
“herber” frequency rank
#45,347
“Hexer” frequency rank
85338
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature herber Hexer
Definition Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs herb männliche Hexe

Where the eye mixes herber and Hexer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
herber
5 ch
Hexer

Visual trap between herber and Hexer

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: herber is [ˈhɛʁbɐ] while Hexer is [ˈhɛksɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 85338, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

herber is recorded at frequency rank #39,991, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈhɛʁbɐ]. Hexer is at rank #45,347, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɛksɐ].

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 85338, this pair ranks #109,790 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of herber vs Hexer

Shared letters: ehr. Private to "herber": b. Private to "Hexer": x.

"herber" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Hexer" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • herberehrber · hebrer · herbber · herberr · herbre · herebr · herrber · hherber
  • Hexerehxer · heexr · hexerr · hexre · hexxer · hhexer · hxeer

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "herber" for "Hexer" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "herber" is an adjective and "Hexer" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "herber" or "Hexer"?
"herber" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,991 in our German list, against #45,347 for "Hexer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "herber" and "Hexer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "herber" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Hexer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #109,790 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "herber" and "Hexer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hemer vs Hexer". 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 #109,790 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