heyvshöhWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: hey is a phrase, höh is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hey” is a phrase and “höh” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,010
“hey” frequency rank
#48,239
“höh” frequency rank
49249
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hey höh
Definition als Grußwort 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs höhen

Where the eye mixes hey and höh

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
hey
3 ch
höh

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hey is [hɛɪ̯] while höh is [høː]. 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 (phrase vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49249, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hey is recorded at frequency rank #1,010, classified as aphrase, pronounced [hɛɪ̯]. höh is at rank #48,239, tagged as averb, pronounced [høː].

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 49249, this pair ranks #1,218,467 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hey vs höh

Shared letters: h. Private to "hey": ey. Private to "höh": ö.

"hey" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "höh" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hey" and "höh" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hey" is a phrase and "höh" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hey" or "höh"?
"hey" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,010 in our German list, against #48,239 for "höh". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list