Which to use
“hinterher” is an adverb and “Hintertür” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,194
- “hinterher” frequency rank
- #19,255
- “Hintertür” frequency rank
- 22449
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hinterher | Hintertür |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | nach etwas | zusätzlicher Eingang zu einem Gebäude oder Raum, der sich an der Rückseite befindet |
Where the eye mixes hinterher and Hintertür
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. hinterher and Hintertür follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between hinterher and Hintertür
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hinterher is [hɪntɐˈheːɐ̯] while Hintertür is [ˈhɪntɐˌtyːɐ̯]. 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 22449, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hinterher is recorded at frequency rank #3,194, classified as anadv, pronounced [hɪntɐˈheːɐ̯]. Hintertür is at rank #19,255, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɪntɐˌtyːɐ̯].
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 22449, this pair ranks #1,874,028 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of hinterher vs Hintertür
Shared letters: ehinrt. Private to "hinterher": -. Private to "Hintertür": ü.
"hinterher" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC · "Hintertür" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- hinterher ← hhinterher · hinetrher · hinnterher · hintehrer · hinterehr · hinterherr · hinterhher · hinterhre
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hinterher" for "Hintertür" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "hinterher" or "Hintertür" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "hinterher" and "Hintertür" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hinterher" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Hintertür" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,874,028 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hinterher" and "Hintertür" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hinterher vs Hinterhof". 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 #1,874,028 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.