hindvshingeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: hind is a adjective, hinge is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hind” is an adjective and “hinge” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,959
“hind” frequency rank
#19,106
“hinge” frequency rank
34065
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hind hinge
Definition Located at the rear (most often said of animals' body parts). A jointed or flexible device that allows the pivoting of a door etc.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hind and hinge apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
hind
5 ch
hinge

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

hind and hinge form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34065, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hind is recorded at frequency rank #14,959, classified as anadj, pronounced /haɪnd/. 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 34065, this pair ranks #323,951 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Frequency comparison

hind#14,959
hinge#19,106

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hind" and "hinge" be used interchangeably?
No, "hind" and "hinge" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering hind vs hinge

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “hind”; for a noun, it's “hinge”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “hind” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list