hipovshitsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“hipo” and “hits” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#29,244
“hipo” frequency rank
#21,355
“hits” frequency rank
50599
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hipo hits
Definition Movimiento convulsivo, repetido y espasmódico del diafragma y la glotis, que impulsa el aire fuera de los pulmones, de forma sincopada y a intervalos regulares sin intervención de la voluntad, con un pequeño ruido característico. Forma del plural de hit.

Where the eye mixes hipo and hits

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. hipo (CVCV) and hits (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
hipo
4 ch
hits

Why the eye confuses hipo with hits

A purely visual mix-up. hipo ([ˈipo]) and hits ([ˈit̪s]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50599, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hipo is recorded at frequency rank #29,244, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈipo]. hits is at rank #21,355, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈit̪s].

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 50599, this pair ranks #102,341 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hipo vs hits

Shared letters: hi. Private to "hipo": op. Private to "hits": st.

"hipo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "hits" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hipo ← hhipo · hiop · hippo · hpio · ihpo
  • hits ← hhits · hist · hitss · hitts · ihts

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "hipo" and "hits" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈipo] versus [ˈit̪s]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "hipo" or "hits" show up more?
"hits" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,355 in our Spanish list, against #29,244 for "hipo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hipo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hits" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #102,341 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hipo" and "hits" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hao vs hipo". 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 #102,341 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list