hingebenvshingegenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: hingeben is a verb, hingegen is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hingeben” is a verb and “hingegen” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,114
“hingeben” frequency rank
#1,483
“hingegen” frequency rank
31597
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hingeben hingegen
Definition in die Richtung, in den Besitz von jemandem etwas überreichen, übergeben im Gegensatz [dazu], andererseits, jedoch

Where the eye mixes hingeben and hingegen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
hingeben
8 ch
hingegen

Visual trap between hingeben and hingegen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hingeben is [ˈhɪnˌɡeːbn̩] while hingegen is [hɪnˈɡeːɡn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - b in “hingeben” becomes g in “hingegen”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31597, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hingeben is recorded at frequency rank #30,114, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhɪnˌɡeːbn̩]. hingegen is at rank #1,483, tagged as anadv, pronounced [hɪnˈɡeːɡn̩].

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 31597, this pair ranks #1,724,920 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hingeben vs hingegen

Shared letters: eghin. Private to "hingeben": b. Private to "hingegen": -.

"hingeben" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "hingegen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hingebenhhingeben · higneben · hinegben · hingbeen · hingebben · hingebenn · hingebne · hingeebn
  • hingegenhhingegen · hignegen · hineggen · hingeegn · hingegenn · hingeggen · hingegne · hinggeen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "hingeben" and "hingegen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hingeben" is a verb and "hingegen" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "hingeben" vs "hingegen" - which ranks higher?
"hingegen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,483 in our German list, against #30,114 for "hingeben". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "hingeben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hingegen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,724,920 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hingeben" and "hingegen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hingeben vs hinzugeben". 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 #1,724,920 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