Which to use
“hinting” and “hitting” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,410
- “hinting” frequency rank
- #3,238
- “hitting” frequency rank
- 28648
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hinting | hitting |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The act of giving a hint or suggestion. | A series of hits or blows directed at a person or object. |
Where the eye mixes hinting and hitting
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses hinting with hitting
A purely visual mix-up. hinting (/ˈhɪntɪŋ/) and hitting (/ˈhɪtɪŋ/) 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 a single letter - n in “hinting” becomes t in “hitting”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28648, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hinting is recorded at frequency rank #25,410, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈhɪntɪŋ/. hitting is at rank #3,238, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈhɪtɪŋ/.
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 28648, this pair ranks #369,418 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hinting vs hitting
Shared letters: ghint. Private to "hinting": -. Private to "hitting": -.
"hinting" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "hitting" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hinting" for "hitting" ever safe?
Which is more common, "hinting" or "hitting"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "hinting" and "hitting" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hinting" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hitting" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #369,418 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hinting" and "hitting" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hinting vs hoisting". 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 #369,418 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.