hinabvshinausTell them apart

Which to use

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

#14,324
“hinab” frequency rank
#750
“hinaus” frequency rank
15074
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hinab hinaus
Definition von hier oben nach dort unten die Richtung beschreibend, die das Umfeld verlässt

Where the eye mixes hinab and hinaus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. hinab runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against hinaus's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
hinab
6 ch
hinaus

Look-alike desk: hinab vs hinaus

A purely visual mix-up. hinab ([hɪˈnap]) and hinaus ([hɪˈnaʊ̯s]) 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 15074, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hinab is recorded at frequency rank #14,324, classified as anadv, pronounced [hɪˈnap]. hinaus is at rank #750, tagged as anadv, pronounced [hɪˈnaʊ̯s].

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 15074, this pair ranks #1,946,589 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hinab vs hinaus

Shared letters: ahin. Private to "hinab": b. Private to "hinaus": su.

"hinab" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "hinaus" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hinab ← hhinab · hianb · hinabb · hinba · hinnab · hniab · ihnab
  • hinaus ← hhinaus · hianus · hinasu · hinauss · hinnaus · hinuas · hniaus · ihnaus

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hinab" and "hinaus" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([hɪˈnap] versus [hɪˈnaʊ̯s]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "hinab" vs "hinaus" - which ranks higher?
"hinaus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #750 in our German list, against #14,324 for "hinab". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "hinab" and "hinaus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hinab" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hinaus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,946,589 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hinab" and "hinaus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hinab vs Hindi". 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 #1,946,589 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