hepvshypoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“hep” and “hypo” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#34,523
“hep” frequency rank
#42,192
“hypo” frequency rank
76715
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hep hypo
Definition hepatitis. Melancholy; a fit of hypochondria; a morbid depression.

Where the eye mixes hep and hypo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
hep
4 ch
hypo

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. hep (/hɛp/) and hypo (/ˈhaɪ.pəʊ/) 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 76715, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hep is recorded at frequency rank #34,523, classified as anoun, pronounced /hɛp/. hypo is at rank #42,192, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈhaɪ.pəʊ/.

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 76715, this pair ranks #29,322 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hep vs hypo

Shared letters: hp. Private to "hep": e. Private to "hypo": oy.

"hep" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "hypo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hypohhypo · hpyo · hyop · hyppo · hyypo · yhpo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hep" and "hypo" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/hɛp/ versus /ˈhaɪ.pəʊ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "hep" or "hypo"?
"hep" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,523 in our English list, against #42,192 for "hypo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "hep" and "hypo". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hep" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hypo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #29,322 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hep" and "hypo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "HMO vs hypo". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list