Which to use
“hails” and “hips” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,465
- “hails” frequency rank
- #9,761
- “hips” frequency rank
- 34226
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hails | hips |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of hail | plural of hip |
Where the eye mixes hails and hips
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between hails and hips
A purely visual mix-up. hails (/heɪlz/) and hips (/hɪps/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34226, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hails is recorded at frequency rank #24,465, classified as anoun, pronounced /heɪlz/. hips is at rank #9,761, tagged as anoun, pronounced /hɪps/.
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 34226, this pair ranks #322,583 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hails vs hips
Shared letters: his. Private to "hails": al. Private to "hips": p.
"hails" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "hips" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hails" and "hips" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "hails" vs "hips" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "hails" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hips" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #322,583 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hails" and "hips" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hails vs Harps". 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 #322,583 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.