Which to use
“hide” and “hinder” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,794
- “hide” frequency rank
- #17,382
- “hinder” frequency rank
- 20176
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hide | hinder |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To put (something) in a place where it will be out of sight or harder to discover. | To make difficult to accomplish; to act as an obstacle; to frustrate. |
Where the eye mixes hide and hinder
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses hide with hinder
A purely visual mix-up. hide (/haɪd/) and hinder (/ˈhɪndə/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20176, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hide is recorded at frequency rank #2,794, classified as averb, pronounced /haɪd/. hinder is at rank #17,382, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈhɪndə/.
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 20176, this pair ranks #432,979 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of hide vs hinder
Shared letters: dehi. Private to "hide": -. Private to "hinder": nr.
"hide" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "hinder" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "hide" and "hinder" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "hide" or "hinder"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "hide" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hinder" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #432,979 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hide" and "hinder" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hinder vs Hodder". 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 #432,979 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.