Which to use
“hinge” and “hints” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,106
- “hinge” frequency rank
- #8,944
- “hints” frequency rank
- 28050
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hinge | hints |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A jointed or flexible device that allows the pivoting of a door etc. | plural of hint |
Where the eye mixes hinge and hints
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: hinge vs hints
A purely visual mix-up. hinge (/ˈhɪnd͡ʒ/) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28050, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hinge is recorded at frequency rank #19,106, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈhɪnd͡ʒ/. 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 28050, this pair ranks #374,117 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hinge vs hints
Shared letters: hin. Private to "hinge": eg. Private to "hints": st.
"hinge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "hints" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hinge" and "hints" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "hinge" vs "hints" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "hinge" 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 #374,117 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hinge" and "hints" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hing vs hinge". 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 #374,117 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.