Which to use
“hiking” is a verb and “hinting” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,677
- “hiking” frequency rank
- #25,410
- “hinting” frequency rank
- 34087
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hiking | hinting |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of hike | The act of giving a hint or suggestion. |
Where the eye mixes hiking and hinting
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between hiking and hinting
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hiking is /ˈhaɪkɪŋ/ while hinting is /ˈhɪntɪŋ/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34087, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hiking is recorded at frequency rank #8,677, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈhaɪkɪŋ/. hinting is at rank #25,410, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈhɪntɪŋ/.
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 34087, this pair ranks #323,774 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hiking vs hinting
Shared letters: ghin. Private to "hiking": k. Private to "hinting": t.
"hiking" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "hinting" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hiking" for "hinting" ever safe?
Which is more common, "hiking" or "hinting"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "hiking" and "hinting" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hiking" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hinting" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #323,774 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hiking" and "hinting" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hinting vs hoisting". 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 #323,774 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.