Which to use
“hack” and “hic” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,232
- “hack” frequency rank
- #16,382
- “hic” frequency rank
- 40614
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hack | hic |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Piratage informatique. | Nœud ou principale difficulté d’une affaire, problème. |
Where the eye mixes hack and hic
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: hack vs hic
A purely visual mix-up. hack (^((h aspiré))\ak\) and hic (^((h aspiré))\ik\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40614, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hack is recorded at frequency rank #24,232, classified as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\ak\. hic is at rank #16,382, tagged as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\ik\.
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 40614, this pair ranks #239,237 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hack vs hic
Shared letters: ch. Private to "hack": ak. Private to "hic": i.
"hack" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "hic" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- hack ← ahck · hacck · hackk · hakc · hcak · hhack
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "hack" and "hic" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "hack" or "hic"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "hack" and "hic" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hack" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hic" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #239,237 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hack" and "hic" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hack vs hash". 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 #239,237 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.