Which to use
“heim” and “hem” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,811
- “heim” frequency rank
- #27,124
- “hem” frequency rank
- 44935
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | heim | hem |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | expressa incompreensão, não entendimento, simultaneamente comunicando àquele ao qual se dirige, que elucide o sentido, o nexo, que dê clarificação ou que melhor se fale ou expresse o que se acabou de comunicar | expressa incompreensão, não entendimento, simultaneamente comunicando àquele ao qual se dirige, que elucide o sentido, o nexo, que dê clareza ou que melhor se fale ou expresse o que se acabou de comunicar |
Same sound, different letters: heim vs hem
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters.
Same sound, different spelling - heim / hem
This is the hard kind. heim and hem are pronounced identically (/ẽɲ/) and both work as anintj. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44935, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
heim is recorded at frequency rank #17,811, classified as anintj, pronounced /ẽɲ/. hem is at rank #27,124, tagged as anintj, pronounced /ẽɲ/.
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 44935, this pair ranks #20,495 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of heim vs hem
Shared letters: ehm. Private to "heim": i. Private to "hem": -.
"heim" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "hem" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- heim ← ehim · heimm · hemi · hheim · hiem
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "heim" and "hem" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "heim" or "hem" show up more?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "heim" / "hem". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "heim" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #20,495 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "heim" and "hem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hem vs hui". 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 #20,495 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.