Which to use
“hinken” is a verb and “Hirten” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34,733
- “hinken” frequency rank
- #17,611
- “Hirten” frequency rank
- 52344
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hinken | Hirten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | schaukelnd gehen | Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Hirte |
Where the eye mixes hinken and Hirten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. hinken and Hirten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between hinken and Hirten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hinken is [ˈhɪŋkn̩] while Hirten is [ˈhɪʁtn̩]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52344, 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]. Hirten is at rank #17,611, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɪʁtn̩].
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 52344, this pair ranks #1,100,512 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hinken vs Hirten
Shared letters: ehin. Private to "hinken": k. Private to "Hirten": rt.
"hinken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "Hirten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hinken" for "Hirten" ever safe?
Which is more common, "hinken" or "Hirten"?
After this comparison
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 "Hirten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,100,512 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hinken" and "Hirten" 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 #1,100,512 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.