hintenvshissenConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#1,393
“hinten” frequency rank
#43,966
“hissen” frequency rank
45359
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hinten hissen
Definition 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 eine Flagge oder ein Segel am Mast nach oben ziehen

Where the eye mixes hinten and hissen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. hinten and hissen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
hinten
6 ch
hissen

Visual trap between hinten and hissen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hinten is [ˈhɪntn̩] while hissen is [ˈhɪsn̩]. 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 (adverb vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45359, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hinten is recorded at frequency rank #1,393, classified as anadv, pronounced [ˈhɪntn̩]. hissen is at rank #43,966, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhɪsn̩].

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 45359, this pair ranks #1,355,697 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hinten vs hissen

Shared letters: ehin. Private to "hinten": t. Private to "hissen": s.

"hinten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "hissen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hintenhhinten · hinetn · hinnten · hintenn · hintne · hintten · hitnen · hniten
  • hissenhhissen · hisen · hisesn · hissenn · hissne · hißen · hsisen · ihssen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hinten" and "hissen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hinten" is an adverb and "hissen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hinten" or "hissen"?
"hinten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,393 in our German list, against #43,966 for "hissen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "hinten" and "hissen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hinten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hissen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,355,697 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hinten" and "hissen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hasser 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 #1,355,697 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