hic vs hide, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“hic” is an intj and “hide” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,392
“hic” frequency rank: #2,794
“hide” frequency rank: 52186
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	hic	hide
Definition	An approximation to the sound of a hiccup, used e.g. to indicate drunkenness.	To put (something) in a place where it will be out of sight or harder to discover.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hic and hide apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

hic

4 ch

hide

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hic is /hɪk/ while hide is /haɪd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (intj vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52186, 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/. hide is at rank #2,794, tagged as averb, pronounced /haɪd/.

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 52186, this pair ranks #159,183 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hic vs hide

Shared letters: hi. Private to "hic": c. Private to "hide": de.

"hic" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "hide" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

hide ← hdie · hhide · hidde · hied · ihde

Frequency comparison

hic#49,392

hide#2,794

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hic" and "hide" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hic" is an intj and "hide" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "hic" or "hide"?

"hide" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,794 in our English list, against #49,392 for "hic". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering hic vs hide

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an intj, it's “hic”; for a verb, it's “hide”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “hic” entry
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