# hatch

> English word · Noun · IPA /hæt͡ʃ/ · frequency rank #9,343

## Definitions
1. A horizontal door in a floor or ceiling.
2. A trapdoor.
3. An opening in a wall at window height for the purpose of serving food or other items. A pass through.
4. A small door in large mechanical structures and vehicles such as aircraft and spacecraft often provided for access for maintenance.
5. An opening through the deck of a ship or submarine
6. A gullet.
7. A frame or weir in a river, for catching fish.
8. A floodgate; a sluice gate.
9. A bedstead.
10. An opening into, or in search of, a mine.

## Etymology
From Middle English hacche, hache, from Old English hæċ, from Proto-West Germanic *hakkju (compare Dutch hek ‘gate, railing’, Low German Heck ‘pasture gate, farmyard gate’), variant of *haggju ‘hedge’. More at hedge.

## Easily confused with
- **hate** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hatch-vs-hate)
- **hats** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hatch-vs-hats)
- **hath** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hatch-vs-hath)
- **hated** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hatch-vs-hated)
- **hates** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hatch-vs-hates)
- **heath** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hatch-vs-heath)
- **hitch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hatch-vs-hitch)
- **hater** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hatch-vs-hater)
- **hunch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hatch-vs-hunch)
- **hutch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hatch-vs-hutch)
- **hooch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hatch-vs-hooch)
- **hatchet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hatch-vs-hatchet)
- **hatcher** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hatch-vs-hatcher)
- **hat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hat-vs-hatch)
- **hah** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hah-vs-hatch)
- **hack** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hack-vs-hatch)
- **hash** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hash-vs-hatch)
- **harsh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/harsh-vs-hatch)

## Common misspellings (8)
`ahtch`, `hacth`, `hatcch`, `hatchh`, `hathc`, `hattch`, `hhatch`, `htach`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/hatch