hegenvshingenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#23,977
“hegen” frequency rank
#19,606
“hingen” frequency rank
43583
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hegen hingen
Definition aufmerksam schützen und versorgen 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs hängen

Where the eye mixes hegen and hingen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
hegen
6 ch
hingen

Why the eye confuses hegen with hingen

A purely visual mix-up. hegen ([ˈheːɡn̩]) and hingen ([ˈhɪŋən]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43583, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hegen is recorded at frequency rank #23,977, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈheːɡn̩]. hingen is at rank #19,606, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhɪŋən].

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 43583, this pair ranks #1,413,524 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hegen vs hingen

Shared letters: eghn. Private to "hegen": -. Private to "hingen": i.

"hegen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "hingen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hegenehgen · heegn · hegenn · heggen · hegne · hgeen · hhegen
  • hingenhhingen · hignen · hinegn · hingenn · hinggen · hingne · hinngen · hnigen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hegen" and "hingen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈheːɡn̩] versus [ˈhɪŋən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "hegen" or "hingen" show up more?
"hingen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,606 in our German list, against #23,977 for "hegen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hegen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hingen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,413,524 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hegen" and "hingen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hegen vs Hemer". 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 #1,413,524 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