verheiltvsverhieltWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“verheilt” and “verhielt” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#41,539
“verheilt” frequency rank
#30,357
“verhielt” frequency rank
71896
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verheilt verhielt
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs verheilen 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs verhalten

Where the eye mixes verheilt and verhielt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. verheilt and verhielt follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
verheilt
8 ch
verhielt

Visual trap between verheilt and verhielt

A purely visual mix-up. verheilt ([fɛɐ̯ˈhaɪ̯lt]) and verhielt ([fɛɐ̯ˈhiːlt]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ only by swapping two adjacent letters (ei ↔ ie) - a transposition the eye reads straight past. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71896, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verheilt is recorded at frequency rank #41,539, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈhaɪ̯lt]. verhielt is at rank #30,357, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈhiːlt].

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 71896, this pair ranks #403,727 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of verheilt vs verhielt

Shared letters: ehilrtv. Private to "verheilt": -. Private to "verhielt": -.

"verheilt" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC  ·  "verhielt" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verheiltevrheilt · vehreilt · verehilt · verheillt · verheiltt · verheitl · verhelit · verhheilt
  • verhieltevrhielt · vehrielt · verhhielt · verhiellt · verhieltt · verhietl · verhilet · verihelt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verheilt" for "verhielt" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈhaɪ̯lt] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈhiːlt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "verheilt" or "verhielt" show up more?
"verhielt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,357 in our German list, against #41,539 for "verheilt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verheilt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verhielt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #403,727 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verheilt" and "verhielt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vergeigt vs verheilt". 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 #403,727 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