hingenvshungernWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#19,606
“hingen” frequency rank
#18,930
“hungern” frequency rank
38536
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hingen hungern
Definition 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs hängen Hunger haben, hungrig sein

Where the eye mixes hingen and hungern

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
hingen
7 ch
hungern

Look-alike desk: hingen vs hungern

A purely visual mix-up. hingen ([ˈhɪŋən]) and hungern ([ˈhʊŋɐn]) 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 38536, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hingen is recorded at frequency rank #19,606, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhɪŋən]. hungern is at rank #18,930, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhʊŋɐn].

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 38536, this pair ranks #1,561,365 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hingen vs hungern

Shared letters: eghn. Private to "hingen": i. Private to "hungern": ru.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hingenhhingen · hignen · hinegn · hingenn · hinggen · hingne · hinngen · hnigen
  • hungernhhungern · hnugern · hugnern · hunegrn · hungenr · hungernn · hungerrn · hunggern

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hingen" and "hungern" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈhɪŋən] versus [ˈhʊŋɐn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "hingen" vs "hungern" - which ranks higher?
"hungern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,930 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "hingen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hungern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,561,365 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hingen" and "hungern" 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 #1,561,365 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