hintenvsHundenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#1,393
“hinten” frequency rank
#7,935
“Hunden” frequency rank
9328
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hinten Hunden
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 Dativ Plural des Substantivs Hund

Where the eye mixes hinten and Hunden

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
hinten
6 ch
Hunden

Look-alike desk: hinten vs Hunden

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hinten is [ˈhɪntn̩] while Hunden is [ˈhʊndn̩]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9328, 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]. Hunden is at rank #7,935, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhʊndn̩].

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 9328, this pair ranks #1,980,491 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hinten vs Hunden

Shared letters: ehn. Private to "hinten": it. Private to "Hunden": du.

"hinten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Hunden" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hintenhhinten · hinetn · hinnten · hintenn · hintne · hintten · hitnen · hniten
  • Hundenhhunden · hnuden · hudnen · hundden · hundenn · hundne · hunedn · hunnden

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hinten" and "Hunden" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hinten" is an adverb and "Hunden" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "hinten" or "Hunden" show up more?
"hinten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,393 in our German list, against #7,935 for "Hunden". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "hinten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Hunden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,980,491 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hinten" and "Hunden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hündchen vs Hunden". 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 #1,980,491 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