hicksvshinktWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: hicks is a intj, hinkt is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hicks” is an intj and “hinkt” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,111
“hicks” frequency rank
#26,051
“hinkt” frequency rank
59162
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hicks hinkt
Definition lautmalerische Nachahmung des Schluckaufs 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs hinken

Where the eye mixes hicks and hinkt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. hicks and hinkt follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
hicks
5 ch
hinkt

Why the eye confuses hicks with hinkt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hicks is [hɪks] while hinkt is [hɪŋkt]. 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 (intj vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59162, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hicks is recorded at frequency rank #33,111, classified as anintj, pronounced [hɪks]. hinkt is at rank #26,051, tagged as averb, pronounced [hɪŋkt].

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 59162, this pair ranks #834,909 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hicks vs hinkt

Shared letters: hik. Private to "hicks": cs. Private to "hinkt": nt.

"hicks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "hinkt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hicks ← hciks · hhicks · hiccks · hickks · hickss · hicsk · hikcs · ihcks
  • hinkt ← hhinkt · hiknt · hinkkt · hinktt · hinnkt · hintk · hnikt · ihnkt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "hicks" for "hinkt" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hicks" is an intj and "hinkt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "hicks" vs "hinkt" - which ranks higher?
"hinkt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,051 in our German list, against #33,111 for "hicks". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "hicks" and "hinkt" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hicks" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hinkt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #834,909 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hicks" and "hinkt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hanks vs hicks". 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 #834,909 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