Which to use
“henke” and “hinken” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #35,229
- “henke” frequency rank
- #34,733
- “hinken” frequency rank
- 69962
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | henke | hinken |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs henken | schaukelnd gehen |
Where the eye mixes henke and hinken
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. henke runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against hinken's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses henke with hinken
A purely visual mix-up. henke ([ˈhɛŋkə]) and hinken ([ˈhɪŋkn̩]) 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 69962, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
henke is recorded at frequency rank #35,229, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhɛŋkə]. hinken is at rank #34,733, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhɪŋkn̩].
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 69962, this pair ranks #460,687 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of henke vs hinken
Shared letters: ehkn. Private to "henke": -. Private to "hinken": i.
"henke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "hinken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "henke" and "hinken" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "henke" or "hinken" show up more?
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 "henke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hinken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #460,687 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "henke" and "hinken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hegte vs henke". 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 #460,687 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.