HeuvshinWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#17,327
“Heu” frequency rank
#327
“hin” frequency rank
17654
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Heu hin
Definition getrocknetes Gras; in der Sprache der Landwirtschaft insbesondere der erste Grasschnitt drückt die Richtung zu einer bestimmten Stelle oder einem Zeitpunkt aus

Where the eye mixes Heu and hin

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
Heu
3 ch
hin

Visual trap between Heu and hin

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Heu is [hɔɪ̯] while hin is [hɪn]. 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 17654, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Heu is recorded at frequency rank #17,327, classified as anoun, pronounced [hɔɪ̯]. hin is at rank #327, tagged as anadv, pronounced [hɪn].

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 17654, this pair ranks #1,925,467 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Heu vs hin

Shared letters: h. Private to "Heu": eu. Private to "hin": in.

"Heu" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "hin" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Heu" for "hin" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Heu" is a noun and "hin" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Heu" vs "hin" - which ranks higher?
"hin" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #327 in our German list, against #17,327 for "Heu". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Heu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,925,467 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Heu" and "hin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "heel vs Heu". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,925,467 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