HeftenvshintenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Heften is a noun, hinten is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Heften” is a noun and “hinten” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,112
“Heften” frequency rank
#1,393
“hinten” frequency rank
31505
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Heften hinten
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Heft den Ort, die Richtung betreffend auf der abgewandten, nicht einsehbaren Seite, rückwärtig, rückseitig; der Ort, die Richtung, die die Gegenseite des Gesichts, den Hinterkopf beim menschlichen Körper angibt

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Heften and hinten apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
Heften
6 ch
hinten

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Heften is [ˈhɛftn̩] while hinten is [ˈhɪntn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31505, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Heften is recorded at frequency rank #30,112, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɛftn̩]. hinten is at rank #1,393, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ˈhɪntn̩].

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 31505, this pair ranks #1,726,762 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Heften vs hinten

Shared letters: ehnt. Private to "Heften": f. Private to "hinten": i.

"Heften" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "hinten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Heftenehften · hefetn · hefften · heftenn · heftne · heftten · hetfen · hfeten
  • hintenhhinten · hinetn · hinnten · hintenn · hintne · hintten · hitnen · hniten

Frequency comparison

Heften#30,112
hinten#1,393

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Heften" and "hinten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Heften" is a noun and "hinten" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Heften" or "hinten"?
"hinten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,393 in our German list, against #30,112 for "Heften". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering Heften vs hinten

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Heften”; for an adverb, it's “hinten”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Heften” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list