hidingvshingWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“hiding” and “hing” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#4,161
“hiding” frequency rank
#48,801
“hing” frequency rank
52962
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hiding hing
Definition present participle and gerund of hide alternative form of hang.

Where the eye mixes hiding and hing

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
hiding
4 ch
hing

Look-alike desk: hiding vs hing

A purely visual mix-up. hiding (/ˈhaɪdɪŋ/) and hing (/hɪŋ/) 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 52962, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hiding is recorded at frequency rank #4,161, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈhaɪdɪŋ/. hing is at rank #48,801, tagged as averb, pronounced /hɪŋ/.

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 52962, this pair ranks #152,792 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hiding vs hing

Shared letters: ghin. Private to "hiding": d. Private to "hing": -.

"hiding" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "hing" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hidinghdiing · hhiding · hidding · hidign · hidingg · hidinng · hidnig · hiidng
  • hinghhing · hign · hingg · hinng · hnig · ihng

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "hiding" and "hing" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈhaɪdɪŋ/ versus /hɪŋ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "hiding" vs "hing" - which ranks higher?
"hiding" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,161 in our English list, against #48,801 for "hing". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "hiding" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hing" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #152,792 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hiding" and "hing" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "HIIT vs hing". 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 #152,792 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list