hiddenvshissenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#24,382
“hidden” frequency rank
#43,966
“hissen” frequency rank
68348
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hidden hissen
Definition Partizip Perfekt (past participle) des Verbs hide eine Flagge oder ein Segel am Mast nach oben ziehen

Letter map: hidden vs hissen

Shared letters muted; letters that set hidden and hissen apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. hidden and hissen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
hidden
6 ch
hissen

Pair insight - hidden / hissen

hidden and hissen are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68348, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hidden is recorded at frequency rank #24,382, classified as averb, pronounced […]. hissen is at rank #43,966, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhɪsn̩].

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 68348, this pair ranks #510,665 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hidden vs hissen

Shared letters: ehin. Private to "hidden": d. Private to "hissen": s.

"hidden" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "hissen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hiddenhdiden · hhidden · hiddenn · hiddne · hidedn · hiden · ihdden
  • hissenhhissen · hisen · hisesn · hissenn · hissne · hißen · hsisen · ihssen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "hidden" for "hissen" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary German text, does "hidden" or "hissen" show up more?
"hidden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,382 in our German list, against #43,966 for "hissen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "hidden" vs "hissen" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hidden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hissen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #510,665 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hidden" and "hissen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hasser vs hissen". 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 #510,665 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