hingebenvshinterenConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#30,114
“hingeben” frequency rank
#6,933
“hinteren” frequency rank
37047
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hingeben hinteren
Definition in die Richtung, in den Besitz von jemandem etwas überreichen, übergeben Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs hinter

Where the eye mixes hingeben and hinteren

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. hingeben and hinteren follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
hingeben
8 ch
hinteren

Look-alike desk: hingeben vs hinteren

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hingeben is [ˈhɪnˌɡeːbn̩] while hinteren is [ˈhɪntəʁən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37047, 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]. hinteren is at rank #6,933, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈhɪntəʁən].

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 37047, this pair ranks #1,600,152 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hingeben vs hinteren

Shared letters: ehin. Private to "hingeben": bg. Private to "hinteren": rt.

"hingeben" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "hinteren" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hingeben ← hhingeben · higneben · hinegben · hingbeen · hingebben · hingebenn · hingebne · hingeebn
  • hinteren ← hhinteren · hinetren · hinnteren · hinteern · hinterenn · hinterne · hinterren · hintreen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "hingeben" for "hinteren" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hingeben" is a verb and "hinteren" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "hingeben" vs "hinteren" - which ranks higher?
"hinteren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,933 in our German list, against #30,114 for "hingeben". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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 "hinteren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,600,152 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hingeben" and "hinteren" 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 #1,600,152 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