härterevshintereTell them apart

Which to use

“härtere” and “hintere” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#23,568
“härtere” frequency rank
#13,861
“hintere” frequency rank
37429
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature härtere hintere
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Komparativs des Adjektivs hart Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs hinter

Where the eye mixes härtere and hintere

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
härtere
7 ch
hintere

Why the eye confuses härtere with hintere

A purely visual mix-up. härtere ([ˈhɛʁtəʁə]) and hintere ([ˈhɪntəʁə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37429, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

härtere is recorded at frequency rank #23,568, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈhɛʁtəʁə]. hintere is at rank #13,861, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈhɪntəʁə].

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 37429, this pair ranks #1,590,482 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of härtere vs hintere

Shared letters: ehrt. Private to "härtere": ä. Private to "hintere": in.

"härtere" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "hintere" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hinterehhintere · hinetre · hinntere · hinteer · hinterre · hintree · hinttere · hitnere

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "härtere" and "hintere" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhɛʁtəʁə] versus [ˈhɪntəʁə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "härtere" or "hintere"?
"hintere" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,861 in our German list, against #23,568 for "härtere". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "härtere" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hintere" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,590,482 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "härtere" and "hintere" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "härten vs härtere". 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 #1,590,482 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list