hives
/haɪvz/
"hives" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“hives” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #24,782 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #24,782
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Itchy, swollen, red areas of the skin which can appear quickly in response to an allergen or due to other conditions.
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 | hives |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /haɪvz/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #24,782 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “hives” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for hives is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /haɪvz/. Corpus data places it at rank #24,782 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Itchy, swollen, red areas of the skin which can appear quickly in response to an allergen or due to other conditions.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for hives, with forms such as "hhives", "hievs", and "hivess". 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, "hues", "hove", "homes", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Uncertain, but frequently connected with heave, even if such a derivation is phonologically difficult. The correct English form is hives, spelled H-I-V-E-S.
Definition
- 1Itchy, swollen, red areas of the skin which can appear quickly in response to an allergen or due to other conditions.
Etymology
Uncertain, but frequently connected with heave, even if such a derivation is phonologically difficult.
Synonyms
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: hhives,hievs,hivess,hivse,hivves,hvies,ihves
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of hives - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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
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Using “hives”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-I-V-E-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /haɪvz/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “hues” - see the side-by-side comparison. hives vs hues
- 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.