hildevsHirseConfusable pair

Quick tell: hilde is a verb, Hirse is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hilde” is a verb and “Hirse” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,294
“hilde” frequency rank
#43,965
“Hirse” frequency rank
64259
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hilde Hirse
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ des Verbs hildan Sammelbezeichnung für einige kleinfrüchtige Getreidearten aus der Familie der Süßgräser

Letter map: hilde vs Hirse

Shared letters muted; letters that set hilde and Hirse apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. hilde and Hirse follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
hilde
5 ch
Hirse

Grammar separator: hilde vs Hirse

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: hilde is averb and Hirseanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64259, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hilde is recorded at frequency rank #20,294, classified as averb, pronounced […]. Hirse is at rank #43,965, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɪʁzə].

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 64259, this pair ranks #647,945 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hilde vs Hirse

Shared letters: ehi. Private to "hilde": dl. Private to "Hirse": rs.

"hilde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Hirse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hilde ← hhilde · hidle · hildde · hiled · hillde · hlide · ihlde
  • Hirse ← hhirse · hirrse · hirsse · hisre · hrise

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "hilde" for "Hirse" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hilde" is a verb and "Hirse" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "hilde" or "Hirse" show up more?
"hilde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,294 in our German list, against #43,965 for "Hirse". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "hilde" vs "Hirse" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hilde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Hirse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #647,945 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hilde" and "Hirse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hide vs Hirse". 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 #647,945 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