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Heidelberg Catechism — similarity of two editions
A: 3rd ed. 1563 (Collectio Confessionum, Niemeyer, 1840)
B: Heidelberg: Mayer, 1576
| Similarity | 94 / 100 (weighted average: structure 20%, wording 70%, spelling 10%) |
|---|---|
| Structure | 91.8 |
| Wording | 96.5 |
| Spelling | 85.5 |
Word-by-word comparison → Read side by side
Structure: 91.8
The average of two figures:
- Units and order: 83.5.
A has 132 units (questions, articles, rejections, and divisions such as
Lord's Days, parts or heads), B has 184; 132 are in both.
Only in B: Lord's Day 1, Lord's Day 2, Lord's Day 3, Lord's Day 4, Lord's Day 5, Lord's Day 6, Lord's Day 7, Lord's Day 8, Lord's Day 9, Lord's Day 10, Lord's Day 11, Lord's Day 12, Lord's Day 13, Lord's Day 14, Lord's Day 15, HC LD 10-b, Lord's Day 17, Lord's Day 18, Lord's Day 19, Lord's Day 20, Lord's Day 21, Lord's Day 22, Lord's Day 23, Lord's Day 24, Lord's Day 25, Lord's Day 26, Lord's Day 27, Lord's Day 28, Lord's Day 29, Lord's Day 30, Lord's Day 31, Lord's Day 32, Lord's Day 33, Lord's Day 34, Lord's Day 35, Lord's Day 36, Lord's Day 37, Lord's Day 38, Lord's Day 39, Lord's Day 40, Lord's Day 41, Lord's Day 42, Lord's Day 43, Lord's Day 44, Lord's Day 45, Lord's Day 46, Lord's Day 47, Lord's Day 48, Lord's Day 49, Lord's Day 50, Lord's Day 51, Lord's Day 52. - 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 129 shared units have the same form.
Wording: 96.5
The share of words the two editions have in common in the units present in both (7321 words in A, 7338 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 103 | 86.8 | 84.8 |
| Q 50 | 87 | 93.3 |
| Q 85 | 88.7 | 84.4 |
| Q 91 | 89.7 | 90.4 |
| Q 117 | 90 | 82.7 |
| Q 47 | 90.3 | 85.7 |
| Q 24 | 91.9 | 80.9 |
| Q 127 | 91.9 | 82.9 |
| Q 63 | 92.3 | 89.6 |
| Q 73 | 92.8 | 84.4 |
| Q 100 | 92.9 | 84.6 |
| Q 81 | 93.3 | 83.9 |
Spelling: 85.5
Only the words that correspond in both editions count here (7074 pairs), so differences in wording do not lower this score. It is the average of two figures: 73.7% of these words are spelled identically (including capitals), and 97.3% are followed by the same punctuation.
Most frequent spelling differences (A → B):
und → vnd (251×) · und → vnnd (121×) · uns → vns (95×) · des → deß (70×) · unser → vnser (27×) · sünden → Sünden (23×) · Gott → GOtt (21×) · blut → Blut (18×) · leib → Leib (18×) · leben → Leben (17×) · Vater → Vatter (17×) · gerechtigkeit → Gerechtigkeit (16×) · sonder → sondern (16×) · Gebot → Gebott (14×) · menschen → Menschen (13×)
Units with the most spelling and punctuation differences: Q 27 (72.5), Q 121 (76.7), Q 57 (77.3), Q 119 (77.8), Q 88 (78.3), Q 118 (78.8), Q 84 (79.4), Q 71 (79.5). The word-by-word comparison ignores punctuation and capitals, so units that differ only in those do not appear there.
Computed 2026-11-06.