hinge
/ˈhɪnd͡ʒ/
"hinge" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hinge” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #19,106 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #19,106
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A jointed or flexible device that allows the pivoting of a door etc.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hinge |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈhɪnd͡ʒ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #19,106 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “hinge” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for hinge is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈhɪnd͡ʒ/. Corpus data places it at rank #19,106 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for hinge, with forms such as "hhinge", "higne", and "hineg". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "huge", "hong", "hire", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English henge (“hinge”), from Old English *henġ or *henġe (“hinge”), from Proto-West Germanic *hangiju or *hangī; compare Old English *henġe- in henġeclif (“overhanging cliff”), Old English henġen (“hanging; that upon which a thing is hung”). Ak… The correct English form is hinge, spelled H-I-N-G-E.
Definition
- 1A jointed or flexible device that allows the pivoting of a door etc.
- 2A naturally occurring joint resembling such hardware in form or action, as in the shell of a bivalve.
- 3A stamp hinge, a folded and gummed paper rectangle for affixing postage stamps in an album.
- 4A principle, or a point in time, on which subsequent reasonings or events depend.
- 5The median of the upper or lower half of a batch, sample, or probability distribution.
- 6One of the four cardinal points, east, west, north, or south.
- 7A movement that presents itself as rotation when an off-centre fixed point is taken into account.
- 8In polyamory, a person connected emotionally or sexually to two others who are not connected to each other.
- 9To be in poor health; to be out of sorts.
Etymology
From Middle English henge (“hinge”), from Old English *henġ or *henġe (“hinge”), from Proto-West Germanic *hangiju or *hangī; compare Old English *henġe- in henġeclif (“overhanging cliff”), Old English henġen (“hanging; that upon which a thing is hung”). Akin to Scots heenge (“hinge”), Saterland Frisian Hänge (“hinge”), Low German henge (“hook, hinge, handle”), Dutch heng (“moving leaf of a hinge”), geheng (“hinge”), Middle Dutch henghe, hanghe (“hook, hinge, handle”), Scots hingel (“any attachment by which something is hung or fastened”), Dutch hengel (“hook”), hengsel (“handle”), dialectal German Hängel (“hook, joint”), German Henkel (“handle, hook”), Danish hængsel (“hinge”), Faroese hongsl (“hinge”), Icelandic hengsli (“hinge”), Norwegian hengsel (“hinge”), Swedish hängsle (“suspender”), Old English hōn (“to hang”), hangian (“to cause to hang, hang up”). More at hang.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: hhinge,higne,hineg,hingge,hinnge,hnige,ihnge
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of hinge - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "hinge"?
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Using “hinge”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-I-N-G-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈhɪnd͡ʒ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “huge” - see the side-by-side comparison. hinge vs huge
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.