Which to use
“hike” and “hinge” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,696
- “hike” frequency rank
- #19,106
- “hinge” frequency rank
- 26802
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hike | hinge |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A long walk, usually for pleasure or exercise. | A jointed or flexible device that allows the pivoting of a door etc. |
Where the eye mixes hike and hinge
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between hike and hinge
A purely visual mix-up. hike (/haɪk/) and hinge (/ˈhɪnd͡ʒ/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26802, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hike is recorded at frequency rank #7,696, classified as anoun, pronounced /haɪk/. hinge is at rank #19,106, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈhɪnd͡ʒ/.
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 26802, this pair ranks #383,978 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hike vs hinge
Shared letters: ehi. Private to "hike": k. Private to "hinge": gn.
"hike" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "hinge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hike" and "hinge" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "hike" or "hinge"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "hike" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hinge" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #383,978 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hike" and "hinge" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hing vs hinge". 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 #383,978 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.