hindernvshingenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#11,258
“hindern” frequency rank
#19,606
“hingen” frequency rank
30864
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hindern hingen
Definition bewirken, dass das Besagte nicht geschieht 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs hängen

Where the eye mixes hindern and hingen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. hindern runs 7 letters (CVCCVCC) against hingen's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
hindern
6 ch
hingen

Look-alike desk: hindern vs hingen

A purely visual mix-up. hindern ([ˈhɪndɐn]) and hingen ([ˈhɪŋən]) 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 30864, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hindern is recorded at frequency rank #11,258, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhɪndɐn]. hingen is at rank #19,606, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhɪŋən].

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 30864, this pair ranks #1,739,579 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hindern vs hingen

Shared letters: ehin. Private to "hindern": dr. Private to "hingen": g.

"hindern" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "hingen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hindern ← hhindern · hidnern · hinddern · hindenr · hindernn · hinderrn · hindren · hinedrn
  • hingen ← hhingen · hignen · hinegn · hingenn · hinggen · hingne · hinngen · hnigen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "hindern" and "hingen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhɪndɐn] versus [ˈhɪŋən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "hindern" or "hingen" show up more?
"hindern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,258 in our German list, against #19,606 for "hingen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "hindern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hingen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,739,579 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hindern" and "hingen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hingen 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 #1,739,579 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