Which to use
“hinder” is a verb and “hither” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,382
- “hinder” frequency rank
- #37,489
- “hither” frequency rank
- 54871
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hinder | hither |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To make difficult to accomplish; to act as an obstacle; to frustrate. | To this place, to here. |
Where the eye mixes hinder and hither
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between hinder and hither
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hinder is /ˈhɪndə/ while hither is /ˈhɪðə/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54871, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hinder is recorded at frequency rank #17,382, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈhɪndə/. hither is at rank #37,489, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈhɪðə/.
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 54871, this pair ranks #137,843 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hinder vs hither
Shared letters: ehir. Private to "hinder": dn. Private to "hither": t.
"hinder" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "hither" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hinder" for "hither" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "hinder" or "hither" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "hinder" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hither" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #137,843 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hinder" and "hither" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hiller vs hither". 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 #137,843 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.