hintervsHitlerWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: hinter is a preposition, Hitler is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hinter” is a preposition and “Hitler” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#410
“hinter” frequency rank
#2,770
“Hitler” frequency rank
3180
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hinter Hitler
Definition in Richtung der Rückseite von etwas entfernt deutschsprachiger Familienname, Nachname

Where the eye mixes hinter and Hitler

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

6 ch
hinter
6 ch
Hitler

Look-alike desk: hinter vs Hitler

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hinter is [ˈhɪntɐ] while Hitler is [ˈhɪtlɐ]. 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 (preposition vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3180, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hinter is recorded at frequency rank #410, classified as aprep, pronounced [ˈhɪntɐ]. Hitler is at rank #2,770, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈhɪtlɐ].

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 3180, this pair ranks #2,000,771 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hinter vs Hitler

Shared letters: ehirt. Private to "hinter": n. Private to "Hitler": l.

"hinter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Hitler" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hinterhhinter · hinetr · hinnter · hinterr · hintre · hintter · hitner · hniter
  • Hitlerhhitler · hilter · hitelr · hitlerr · hitller · hitlre · hittler · htiler

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "hinter" for "Hitler" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hinter" is a preposition and "Hitler" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "hinter" vs "Hitler" - which ranks higher?
"hinter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #410 in our German list, against #2,770 for "Hitler". 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 "hinter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Hitler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,000,771 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hinter" and "Hitler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "higher vs Hitler". 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 #2,000,771 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