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Heidelberg Catechism — similarity of two editions
A: 1st ed. 1563 (Heidelberg: Mayer)
B: 3rd ed. 1563 (Collectio Confessionum, Niemeyer, 1840)
| Similarity | 98 / 100 (weighted average: structure 20%, wording 70%, spelling 10%) |
|---|---|
| Structure | 99.8 |
| Wording | 97.6 |
| Spelling | 96.4 |
Word-by-word comparison → Read side by side
Structure: 99.8
The average of two figures:
- Units and order: 99.6.
A has 131 units (questions, articles, rejections, and divisions such as
Lord's Days, parts or heads), B has 132; 131 are in both.
Only in B: Q 80. - Form of the shared units: 100. A unit counts as having a different form when one edition's text is less than 80% of the length of the other's. All 128 shared units have the same form.
Wording: 97.6
The share of words the two editions have in common in the units present in both (7170 words in A, 7181 in B), weighted by length. Case, punctuation, Scripture references and spelling variants are ignored: old spellings are levelled before comparing (e.g. u/v, i/j/y, th/t, doubled letters), and long words that differ in only a letter or two count as the same word. This levelling is approximate, so a few spelling variants may still count as different words.
Units with the most different wording:
| Unit | Wording | Spelling |
|---|---|---|
| Q 36 | 89.7 | 96.2 |
| Q 8 | 90.6 | 94.8 |
| Q 85 | 92.7 | 95.8 |
| Q 73 | 92.8 | 94.2 |
| Q 118 | 92.9 | 96.2 |
| Q 91 | 93.1 | 94.4 |
| Q 92 | 93.3 | 96 |
| Q 95 | 93.3 | 100 |
| Q 81 | 93.4 | 94.7 |
| Q 68 | 93.8 | 90 |
| Q 119 | 93.9 | 97.6 |
| Q 103 | 94 | 93.7 |
Spelling: 96.4
Only the words that correspond in both editions count here (7001 pairs), so differences in wording do not lower this score. It is the average of two figures: 94.5% of these words are spelled identically (including capitals), and 98.3% are followed by the same punctuation.
Most frequent spelling differences (A → B):
das → daß (21×) · Waß → Was (17×) · sondern → sonder (11×) · denn → Denn (9×) · daß → das (8×) · Herr → HERR (7×) · gesetz → Gesetz (5×) · Herrn → HERRN (5×) · gewasschen → gewaschen (5×) · notturfft → notdurfft (4×) · abwasschung → abwaschung (4×) · namen → Namen (4×) · zuleben → zu leben (3×) · almechtigen → allmechtigen (3×) · wird → wirdt (3×)
Units with the most spelling and punctuation differences: Q 5 (85.3), Q 3 (87.5), Q 68 (90), Q 29 (91.7), Q 41 (91.7), Q 72 (92.3), Q 57 (92.4), Q 4 (92.5). The word-by-word comparison ignores punctuation and capitals, so units that differ only in those do not appear there.
Computed 2026-11-06.