Which to use
“hints” is a noun and “hist” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,944
- “hints” frequency rank
- #34,524
- “hist” frequency rank
- 43468
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hints | hist |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of hint | An utterance used to discreetly attract someone's attention. |
Where the eye mixes hints and hist
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: hints vs hist
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hints is /hɪnts/ while hist is /hɪst/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43468, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hints is recorded at frequency rank #8,944, classified as anoun, pronounced /hɪnts/. hist is at rank #34,524, tagged as anintj, pronounced /hɪst/.
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 43468, this pair ranks #239,714 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hints vs hist
Shared letters: hist. Private to "hints": n. Private to "hist": -.
"hints" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "hist" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hints" for "hist" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "hints" or "hist" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "hints" and "hist" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hints" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hist" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #239,714 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hints" and "hist" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "HIIT vs hist". 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 #239,714 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.