Which to use
“hen” is a noun and “Hinz” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34,162
- “hen” frequency rank
- #20,954
- “Hinz” frequency rank
- 55116
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hen | Hinz |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | die Henne, ein weiblicher Vogel | männlicher Vorname |
Where the eye mixes hen and Hinz
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. hen runs 3 letters (CVC) against Hinz's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between hen and Hinz
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hen is [hɛn] while Hinz is [hɪnt͡s]. 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 (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55116, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hen is recorded at frequency rank #34,162, classified as anoun, pronounced [hɛn]. Hinz is at rank #20,954, tagged as aname, pronounced [hɪnt͡s].
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 55116, this pair ranks #992,148 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hen vs Hinz
Shared letters: hn. Private to "hen": e. Private to "Hinz": iz.
"hen" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "Hinz" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- Hinz ← hhinz · hinnz · hinzz · hizn · hniz · ihnz
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hen" for "Hinz" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "hen" or "Hinz" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "hen" and "Hinz" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Hinz" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #992,148 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hen" and "Hinz" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "heel vs hen". 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 #992,148 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.