hein

\ɛ̃\

/\ɛ̃\/ intj

The verdict

“hein” has 5 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #687. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#687
frequency rank, French
1,969
“H” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Dont on accompagne une interrogation ou une phrase qui exprime l’étonnement.

Corpus desk

Index FR-hein · hein · French

hein · rank #687 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #687
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,969
  • PHOTO-FINISH hors

Nearest frequency peer: hors (+1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « hein »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « hein » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

hein vs hi
50% similar
hein vs hey
50% similar
hein vs Heu
25% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for hein
PropertyValue
Headwordhein
LanguageFrench
Part of speechInterjection
IPA\ɛ̃\
Letters4
Frequency rank#687
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « hein »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).heinse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « hors » (#688), « joue » (#689), « données » (#684). Parmi 1,969 lemmes en « H », « hein » est au #687. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around hein (IPA \ɛ̃\), aninterjection. Corpus frequency is #687 among 1,969 “H” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for hein, with forms such as "ehin", "heinn", and "heni". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "hi", "hey", "Heu", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is hein, spelled H-E-I-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Dont on accompagne une interrogation ou une phrase qui exprime l’étonnement.
  2. 2
    Il s’emploie seul, pour indiquer que l’on n’a pas entendu ou compris et que l’on invite l’interlocuteur à répéter.
  3. 3
    S’emploie pour attirer l’attention, susciter l’approbation ou bien des questions.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how hein appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. « Scientifique », « scientifique », est-ce que j'ai la ganache d'Albert Einstein ? Hein ? Vous faites chier, à pénave comme des branques tout l’temps !
  2. Hein, que dites-vous donc là?

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ehin
  • heinn
  • heni
  • hhein
  • hien

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of hein - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

ehin2heinn1heni2hhein1hien2
Edit distance from "hein"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "hein"?
"hein" is spelled H-E-I-N. The IPA pronunciation is \ɛ̃\.
What does "hein" mean?
As an interjection, "hein" means: Dont on accompagne une interrogation ou une phrase qui exprime l’étonnement.
What words are commonly confused with "hein"?
"hein" is commonly confused with "hi", "hey", "Heu". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "hein"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "hein" is \ɛ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "hein" come from?
"hein" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "hein", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list