Which to use
“hilt” and “hints” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,844
- “hilt” frequency rank
- #8,944
- “hints” frequency rank
- 41788
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hilt | hints |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The handle of a sword, consisting of grip, guard, and pommel, designed to facilitate use of the blade and afford protection to the hand. | plural of hint |
Where the eye mixes hilt and hints
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses hilt with hints
A purely visual mix-up. hilt (/hɪlt/) and hints (/hɪnts/) 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 41788, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hilt is recorded at frequency rank #32,844, classified as anoun, pronounced /hɪlt/. hints is at rank #8,944, tagged as anoun, pronounced /hɪnts/.
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 41788, this pair ranks #255,192 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hilt vs hints
Shared letters: hit. Private to "hilt": l. Private to "hints": ns.
"hilt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "hints" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "hilt" and "hints" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "hilt" vs "hints" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "hilt" and "hints" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hilt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hints" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #255,192 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hilt" and "hints" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "HIIT vs hilt". 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 #255,192 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.