HinweisvshinweistWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Hinweis is a noun, hinweist is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Hinweis” is a noun and “hinweist” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,889
“Hinweis” frequency rank
#15,392
“hinweist” frequency rank
17281
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Hinweis hinweist
Definition die Handlung, jemanden auf etwas aufmerksam zu machen 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv der Nebensatzkonjugation des Verbs hinweisen

Where the eye mixes Hinweis and hinweist

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. Hinweis runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against hinweist's 8 (CVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
Hinweis
8 ch
hinweist

Look-alike desk: Hinweis vs hinweist

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Hinweis is [ˈhɪnˌvaɪ̯s] while hinweist is [ˈhɪnˌvaɪ̯st]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Hinweis” sits inside “hinweist”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17281, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Hinweis is recorded at frequency rank #1,889, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈhɪnˌvaɪ̯s]. hinweist is at rank #15,392, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈhɪnˌvaɪ̯st].

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 17281, this pair ranks #1,928,774 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Hinweis vs hinweist

Shared letters: ehinsw. Private to "Hinweis": -. Private to "hinweist": t.

"Hinweis" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "hinweist" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Hinweishhinweis · hinewis · hinnweis · hinweiss · hinwesi · hinwweis · hiwneis · hniweis
  • hinweisthhinweist · hinewist · hinnweist · hinweisst · hinweistt · hinweits · hinwesit · hinwiest

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Hinweis" and "hinweist" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Hinweis" is a noun and "hinweist" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Hinweis" or "hinweist"?
"Hinweis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,889 in our German list, against #15,392 for "hinweist". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Hinweis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hinweist" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,928,774 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Hinweis" and "hinweist" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hinweis vs hinwies". 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 #1,928,774 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