hindervshunterWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: hinder is a verb, hunter is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hinder” is a verb and “hunter” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,382
“hinder” frequency rank
#3,817
“hunter” frequency rank
21199
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hinder hunter
Definition To make difficult to accomplish; to act as an obstacle; to frustrate. One who hunts game for sport or for food; a huntsman or huntswoman.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hinder and hunter apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
hinder
6 ch
hunter

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hinder is /ˈhɪndə/ while hunter is /ˈhʌntə/. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21199, 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/. hunter is at rank #3,817, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈhʌntə/.

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 21199, this pair ranks #425,642 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hinder vs hunter

Shared letters: ehnr. Private to "hinder": di. Private to "hunter": tu.

"hinder" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "hunter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hinderhhinder · hidner · hindder · hinderr · hindre · hinedr · hinnder · hnider
  • hunterhhunter · hnuter · hunetr · hunnter · hunterr · huntre · huntter · hutner

Frequency comparison

hinder#17,382
hunter#3,817

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hinder" and "hunter" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hinder" is a verb and "hunter" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hinder" or "hunter"?
"hunter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,817 in our English list, against #17,382 for "hinder". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering hinder vs hunter

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “hinder”; for a noun, it's “hunter”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “hinder” 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