Which to use
“hiatus” and “hints” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,186
- “hiatus” frequency rank
- #8,944
- “hints” frequency rank
- 24130
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hiatus | hints |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A gap in a series, making it incomplete. | plural of hint |
Where the eye mixes hiatus and hints
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: hiatus vs hints
A purely visual mix-up. hiatus (/haɪˈeɪtəs/) and hints (/hɪnts/) 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 24130, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hiatus is recorded at frequency rank #15,186, classified as anoun, pronounced /haɪˈeɪtəs/. hints is at rank #8,944, tagged as anoun, pronounced /hɪnts/.
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 24130, this pair ranks #404,216 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of hiatus vs hints
Shared letters: hist. Private to "hiatus": au. Private to "hints": n.
"hiatus" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "hints" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hiatus" and "hints" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "hiatus" or "hints" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "hiatus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hints" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #404,216 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hiatus" and "hints" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "HIIT vs hints". 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 #404,216 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.