heimlich

/[ˈhaɪ̯mlɪç]/ adj

Letters

8 characters

Frequency Rank

#5,378

in German word usage

Misspellings

12

tracked variants

Confusables

7

similar word pairs

heimlich is anGermanadj. It means: im Verborgenen, ohne das Wissen anderer Pronounced [ˈhaɪ̯mlɪç]. It ranks #5,378 in German word frequency. Often confused with Heinrich and herzlich.

Key facts for heimlich
PropertyValue
Headwordheimlich
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdj
IPA[ˈhaɪ̯mlɪç]
Letters8
Frequency rank#5,378
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs7
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of heimlich in German word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The German entry for heimlich is 8 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈhaɪ̯mlɪç]. Corpus data places it at rank #5,378 in overall German word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "im Verborgenen, ohne das Wissen anderer".

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 12 documented wrong-spelling variants for heimlich, with forms such as "ehimlich", "heilmich", and "heimilch". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 7 confusable-pair relationships, "Heinrich", "herzlich", "herrlich", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct German form is heimlich, spelled H-E-I-M-L-I-C-H, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    im Verborgenen, ohne das Wissen anderer

Synonyms

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ehimlich,heilmich,heimilch,heimlcih,heimlicch,heimlichh,heimlihc,heimllich,heimmlich,hemilich,hheimlich,hiemlich

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for heimlich

Misspelling Variants of "heimlich"

ehimlich8heilmich8heimilch8heimlcih8heimlicch9heimlichh9heimlihc8heimllich9
Misspelling Variants of "heimlich"

Frequency rank: #5,378 in German

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "heimlich"?
"heimlich" is spelled H-E-I-M-L-I-C-H. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈhaɪ̯mlɪç].
What does "heimlich" mean?
As an adj, "heimlich" means: im Verborgenen, ohne das Wissen anderer
What words are commonly confused with "heimlich"?
"heimlich" is commonly confused with "Heinrich", "herzlich", "herrlich". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "heimlich"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "heimlich" is [ˈhaɪ̯mlɪç]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "heimlich" come from?
"heimlich" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby German words

Other entries that begin with the letter H in our German index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.