hinvshumWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: hin is a adverb, hum is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#327
“hin” frequency rank
#47,488
“hum” frequency rank
47815
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hin hum
Definition drückt die Richtung zu einer bestimmten Stelle oder einem Zeitpunkt aus männliches Personalpronomen der dritten Person Singular im Objektiv(≘ Dativ und Akkusativ): ihm, ihn

Letter map: hin vs hum

Shared letters muted; letters that set hin and hum apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
hin
3 ch
hum

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: hin is anadverb and humapronoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47815, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hin is recorded at frequency rank #327, classified as anadv, pronounced [hɪn]. hum is at rank #47,488, tagged as apron, pronounced […].

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 47815, this pair ranks #1,270,970 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hin vs hum

Shared letters: h. Private to "hin": in. Private to "hum": mu.

"hin" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "hum" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hin" and "hum" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hin" is an adverb and "hum" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hin" or "hum"?
"hin" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #327 in our German list, against #47,488 for "hum". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "hin" and "hum". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hum" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,270,970 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hin" and "hum" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hum vs puzzles". Nearby pair

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list