Which to use
“hedge” and “hedges” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,554
- “hedge” frequency rank
- #20,376
- “hedges” frequency rank
- 30930
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hedge | hedges |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A thicket of bushes or other shrubbery, especially one planted as a fence between two portions of land, or to separate the parts of a garden. | plural of hedge |
Where the eye mixes hedge and hedges
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: hedge vs hedges
A purely visual mix-up. hedge (/ˈhɛd͡ʒ/) and hedges (/ˈhɛd͡ʒɪz/) 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 extra letter(s) - “hedge” sits inside “hedges”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30930, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hedge is recorded at frequency rank #10,554, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈhɛd͡ʒ/. hedges is at rank #20,376, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈhɛd͡ʒɪz/.
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 30930, this pair ranks #350,436 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hedge vs hedges
Shared letters: degh. Private to "hedge": -. Private to "hedges": s.
"hedge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "hedges" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "hedge" and "hedges" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "hedge" or "hedges"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "hedge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hedges" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #350,436 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hedge" and "hedges" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hedged vs hedges". 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 #350,436 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.