Which to use
“hides” and “hikes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,393
- “hides” frequency rank
- #18,577
- “hikes” frequency rank
- 29970
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hides | hikes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of hide | plural of hike |
Where the eye mixes hides and hikes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses hides with hikes
A purely visual mix-up. hides (/haɪdz/) and hikes (/haɪks/) 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 a single letter - d in “hides” becomes k in “hikes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29970, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hides is recorded at frequency rank #11,393, classified as anoun, pronounced /haɪdz/. hikes is at rank #18,577, tagged as anoun, pronounced /haɪks/.
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 29970, this pair ranks #358,487 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hides vs hikes
Shared letters: ehis. Private to "hides": d. Private to "hikes": k.
"hides" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "hikes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hides" and "hikes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "hides" or "hikes"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "hides" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hikes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #358,487 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hides" and "hikes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hikes vs hoke". 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 #358,487 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.