hiena

[ˈjena]

/[ˈjena]/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“hiena” has 6 generated spelling variants in the Spanish index at frequency #39,789. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#39,789
frequency rank, Spanish
1,569
“H” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
18
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - (Hyaenidae) Carnívoro terrestre nativo de África y Asia, miembros de la familia de los Hiénidos (Hyaenidae). Aunque las hienas son similares, a primera vista, a perros de gran tamaño —alcanzando ha...

Corpus desk

Index ES-hiena · hiena · Spanish

hiena · rank #39,789 · 6 variants · 18 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #39,789
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 18 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,569
  • PHOTO-FINISH hands

Nearest frequency peer: hands (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pares de rango junto al imán ortográfico “hiena”

Misma franja de rareza: útil si un typo cae en un lema vecino

corpus weight

What this shows “hiena” está entre estos pares FrequencyWords; la profundidad de typo se mide aparte en el gráfico de distancia de edición.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

hiena vs hija
60% similar
hiena vs himno
60% similar
hiena vs hueva
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for hiena
PropertyValue
Headwordhiena
LanguageSpanish
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ˈjena]
Letters5
Frequency rank#39,789
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs18
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frecuencia del imán ortográfico “hiena”

La frecuencia va del puñado de palabras que usamos sin parar (izquierda) a la cola larga que apenas aparece (derecha).hienacae aquí:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

El eje es logarítmico: cada tick marca unas diez veces menos frecuencia. En la misma franja de rareza aparecen “hands” (#39,788), “hojalata” (#39,791), “habidas” (#39,786). Entre 1,569 lemas con “H”, “hiena” va en #39,789. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around hiena (IPA [ˈjena]), anoun. Corpus frequency is #39,789 among 1,569 “H” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for hiena, with forms such as "heina", "hhiena", and "hiean". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 18 confusable-pair relationships, "hija", "himno", "hueva", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct Spanish form is hiena, spelled H-I-E-N-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    (Hyaenidae) Carnívoro terrestre nativo de África y Asia, miembros de la familia de los Hiénidos (Hyaenidae). Aunque las hienas son similares, a primera vista, a perros de gran tamaño —alcanzando hasta los 40 kg de peso— están sólo remotamente emparentadas con los cánidos.
  2. 2
    Persona cruel y despreciable.

This word in other languages

hyena(English)hyène(Français)Hyäne(Deutsch)hiena(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • heina
  • hhiena
  • hiean
  • hienna
  • hinea
  • ihena

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of hiena - 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.

heina2hhiena1hiean2hienna1hinea2ihena2
Edit distance from "hiena"

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 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "hiena"?
"hiena" is spelled H-I-E-N-A. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈjena].
What does "hiena" mean?
As a noun, "hiena" means: (Hyaenidae) Carnívoro terrestre nativo de África y Asia, miembros de la familia de los Hiénidos (Hyaenidae). Aunque las hienas son similares, a primera vista, a perros de gran tamaño —alcanzando ha...
What words are commonly confused with "hiena"?
"hiena" is commonly confused with "hija", "himno", "hueva". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "hiena"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "hiena" is [ˈjena]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "hiena" come from?
"hiena" is a Spanish word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar Spanish words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "hiena", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Spanish headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

hands#39,788gules#39,785humus#39,795Idaho#39,797

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

galos6 variantsmonk6 variantsnach6 variantsberga6 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list