hidevshipsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: hide is a verb, hips is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#2,794
“hide” frequency rank
#9,761
“hips” frequency rank
12555
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hide hips
Definition To put (something) in a place where it will be out of sight or harder to discover. plural of hip

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
hide
4 ch
hips

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

hide and hips form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12555, 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/. hips is at rank #9,761, tagged as anoun, pronounced /hɪps/.

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 12555, this pair ranks #480,877 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

hide#2,794
hips#9,761

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hide" and "hips" be used interchangeably?
No, "hide" and "hips" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering hide vs hips

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “hide”; for a noun, it's “hips”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “hide” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list