Which to use
“heil” is a verb and “hic” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #38,882
- “heil” frequency rank
- #49,392
- “hic” frequency rank
- 88274
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | heil | hic |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To greet with a Sieg Heil. | An approximation to the sound of a hiccup, used e.g. to indicate drunkenness. |
Where the eye mixes heil and hic
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. heil runs 4 letters (CVVC) against hic's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: heil vs hic
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: heil is /haɪl/ while hic is /hɪk/. 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 (verb vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 88274, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
heil is recorded at frequency rank #38,882, classified as averb, pronounced /haɪl/. hic is at rank #49,392, tagged as anintj, pronounced /hɪk/.
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 88274, this pair ranks #6,567 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of heil vs hic
Shared letters: hi. Private to "heil": el. Private to "hic": c.
"heil" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "hic" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- heil ← ehil · heill · hheil · hiel
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "heil" for "hic" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "heil" or "hic" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "heil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hic" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #6,567 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "heil" and "hic" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hic vs HIIT". 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 #6,567 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.