Which to use
“hic” is an intj and “hick” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #49,392
- “hic” frequency rank
- #40,736
- “hick” frequency rank
- 90128
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hic | hick |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An approximation to the sound of a hiccup, used e.g. to indicate drunkenness. | An awkward, naive, clumsy and/or rude country person. |
Same sound, different letters: hic vs hick
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters. hic runs 3 letters (CVC) against hick's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: hic vs hick
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: hic and hick carry the same recorded pronunciation, /hɪk/. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anintj, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “hic” sits inside “hick”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 90128, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hic is recorded at frequency rank #49,392, classified as anintj, pronounced /hɪk/. hick is at rank #40,736, tagged as anoun, pronounced /hɪk/.
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 90128, this pair ranks #4,474 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of hic vs hick
Shared letters: chi. Private to "hic": -. Private to "hick": k.
"hic" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "hick" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- hick ← hcik · hhick · hicck · hickk · hikc · ihck
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "hic" and "hick" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "hic" or "hick" show up more?
Useful next steps
"hic" and "hick" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "hic" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hick" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #4,474 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hic" and "hick" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hic vs HIIT". 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 #4,474 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.