Which to use
“hiker” is a noun and “hinder” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #37,969
- “hiker” frequency rank
- #17,382
- “hinder” frequency rank
- 55351
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hiker | hinder |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | One who hikes, especially frequently. | To make difficult to accomplish; to act as an obstacle; to frustrate. |
Where the eye mixes hiker and hinder
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. hiker runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against hinder's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: hiker vs hinder
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hiker is /ˈhaɪkɚ/ while hinder is /ˈhɪndə/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55351, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hiker is recorded at frequency rank #37,969, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈhaɪkɚ/. 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 55351, this pair ranks #134,280 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of hiker vs hinder
Shared letters: ehir. Private to "hiker": k. Private to "hinder": dn.
"hiker" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "hinder" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hiker" and "hinder" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "hiker" or "hinder"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "hiker" and "hinder" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hiker" 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 #134,280 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hiker" and "hinder" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hiker 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 #134,280 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.