Which to use
“Hein” is a name and “Henne” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,601
- “Hein” frequency rank
- #21,286
- “Henne” frequency rank
- 40887
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Hein | Henne |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | männlicher Vorname | weiblicher Vogel (insbesondere bei Hühnern) |
Where the eye mixes Hein and Henne
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: Hein vs Henne
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Hein is [haɪ̯n] while Henne is [ˈhɛnə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40887, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Hein is recorded at frequency rank #19,601, classified as aname, pronounced [haɪ̯n]. Henne is at rank #21,286, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɛnə].
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 40887, this pair ranks #1,495,480 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Hein vs Henne
Shared letters: ehn. Private to "Hein": i. Private to "Henne": -.
"Hein" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "Henne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Hein" for "Henne" ever safe?
Which is more common, "Hein" or "Henne"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Hein" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Henne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,495,480 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Hein" and "Henne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hähne vs Henne". 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 #1,495,480 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.