Which to use
“hippo” and “hypo” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,472
- “hippo” frequency rank
- #42,192
- “hypo” frequency rank
- 66664
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hippo | hypo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Clipping of hippopotamus. | Melancholy; a fit of hypochondria; a morbid depression. |
Where the eye mixes hippo and hypo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. hippo runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against hypo's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between hippo and hypo
A purely visual mix-up. hippo (/ˈhɪpəʊ/) and hypo (/ˈhaɪ.pəʊ/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66664, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hippo is recorded at frequency rank #24,472, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈhɪpəʊ/. hypo is at rank #42,192, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈhaɪ.pəʊ/.
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 66664, this pair ranks #66,968 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of hippo vs hypo
Shared letters: hop. Private to "hippo": i. Private to "hypo": y.
"hippo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "hypo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hippo" and "hypo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "hippo" or "hypo"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "hippo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hypo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #66,968 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hippo" and "hypo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "HMO vs hypo". 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 #66,968 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.