hinkenvshintenTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#34,733
“hinken” frequency rank
#1,393
“hinten” frequency rank
36126
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hinken hinten
Definition schaukelnd gehen den Ort, die Richtung betreffend auf der abgewandten, nicht einsehbaren Seite, rückwärtig, rückseitig; der Ort, die Richtung, die die Gegenseite des Gesichts, den Hinterkopf beim menschlichen Körper angibt

Where the eye mixes hinken and hinten

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

6 ch
hinken
6 ch
hinten

Look-alike desk: hinken vs hinten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hinken is [ˈhɪŋkn̩] while hinten is [ˈhɪntn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - k in “hinken” becomes t in “hinten”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36126, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hinken is recorded at frequency rank #34,733, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhɪŋkn̩]. hinten is at rank #1,393, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ˈhɪntn̩].

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 36126, this pair ranks #1,623,285 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hinken vs hinten

Shared letters: ehin. Private to "hinken": k. Private to "hinten": t.

"hinken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "hinten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hinkenhhinken · hiknen · hinekn · hinkenn · hinkken · hinkne · hinnken · hniken
  • hintenhhinten · hinetn · hinnten · hintenn · hintne · hintten · hitnen · hniten

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "hinken" and "hinten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hinken" is a verb and "hinten" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "hinken" vs "hinten" - which ranks higher?
"hinten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,393 in our German list, against #34,733 for "hinken". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hinken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hinten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,623,285 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hinken" and "hinten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hinken 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 #1,623,285 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